


Don't Tell Ryder

by Love_of_fandoms



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alec Ryder's A+ Parenting, Awkwardness, BAMF oc, Different Names for Ryder Siblings, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Friendship, Grumpy Space Cats, I Don't Actually Hate Cora, Mystery, Overworking, Past Torture, Past Violence, Pets, Romance, SAM is a good bud, Secrets, Slow Burn, Texting, Trauma, delirious snuggles, past trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 45,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23669344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_of_fandoms/pseuds/Love_of_fandoms
Summary: Cassiel Ryder, younger sister of Colin and Cody Ryder, came to Andromeda in hopes of having a normal, diplomatic job. Then her dad dies to save her brother, a hostile alien race called the Kett shows up, and said brother asks her to join his Pathfinding team in case of first contact. In the meantime, he’ll just have her drive the Nomad… what could possibly go wrong? Cue grumpy angaran general, which is actually one of the few things that goes right… but who’s counting?[Updates are not on a regular schedule]
Relationships: Evfra de Tershaav/Female Ryder | Sara, Evfra de Tershaav/Original Character(s), Evfra de Tershaav/Original Female Character(s), Jaal Ama Darav/Male Ryder | Scott
Comments: 90
Kudos: 179





	1. I: Oh Look! Kett!

“We’re on a collision course with unknown objects!” Kallo announced worriedly, fingers flying across the display in a frantic attempt to avoid whatever the unknown objects were. The Tempest shook, and Colin’s hand shot out to grab Cassiel’s arm, steadying her as she stumbled. She gave him a thankful look as he took control.

“Make corrections! SAM, are you on this?” he demanded, going up to the viewport to try to get a better angle, not that it would really help.

“Collision is imminent,” SAM confirmed the salarian pilot’s previous statement, and Colin and Cassiel both grabbed hold of the railings, the siblings being the only ones standing on the bridge.

“All stop, now!” Colin ordered, both he and his little sister lurching forward as the Tempest was forced to come to a stop. Cassiel barely noticed her brother’s eyes widening in fear as they fell upon a giant kett ship, her own fear overpowering her awareness of anything going on around her.

“Kett ships, a dozen… no, more!” Suvi called, her voice sounding slightly muffled to Cassiel as she couldn’t seem to focus on anything. 

“They’ve got us pinned against the scourge!” Kallo fretted, and Cassiel was thankful in that moment for her brother’s military training, though not as extensive as his twin Cody’s, he was much better suited to be Pathfinder than the baby of the family, Cassiel Ryder.

“They are scanning us, Pathfinder,” SAM informed, and Cassiel’s eyes zeroed in on the gigantic cannons aimed at them. _What did it matter that they were being scanned if they were just going to be blown to pieces in a matter of seconds?_

“Well… scan them back!” Colin demanded, Cassiel being reminded of the childish comeback of _no you_ that Colin always used when they got in an argument.

It was then that everything went dark, back up power coming on and casting an ominous red glow on the faces of the present crew. Cassiel was thankful for her place behind her brother’s back when a Kett’s face appeared on the viewport, his larger than life portrayal terrifying. 

“Where is the one who activated the Remnant?” he, no it, demanded. Cassiel looked worriedly at her brother, her head tilting up to look at his facial expression, their height difference frustratingly making it so Cassiel was eye level with his pecs.

“Their DNA signature is there. Answer me!” it demanded once again. Cassiel flinched lightly at the kett's shouting, and then jumped in surprise when Cora and Liam appeared behind her. She was thrown back to when she officially became a member of the Tempest crew.

* * *

_She had been pulled from cryo on the Hyperion early, Colin demanding it from Addison once he established Prodromos on Eos. Cassiel hadn’t expected to be thawed until their place in Andromeda was established, colonies flourishing, so imagine her shock to hear that:_

  1. _Cody was in a coma_
  2. _The Hyperion was a year late_
  3. _Alec Ryder, her father was dead_
  4. _Habitat 7 was a bust, in fact none of the home worlds panned out_



_And 5. Andromeda was occupied by a hostile species called the Kett_

_“I want you on the Tempest with me,” Colin said once Cassiel was released from medbay and given her quarters on the Nexus._

_“What?!” she gasped, snapping her head to the side to gape at her brother._

_“You heard me,” he chuckled, and Cassiel ducked her head._

_“You know I’m not trained for field work!” she protested, but Colin wasn’t letting it go._

_“I don’t expect you to fight,” Cassiel leveled Colin with an incredulous look._

_“You’re the Pathfinder, I think anyone on your ship should be ready to fight,”_

_“Cass, you know the last thing I want is to put you in danger-”_

_“So is this why you pulled me from cryo early?” Cassiel cut him off, Colin freezing._

_“I…” he sighed, shaking his head. “I missed you,” Cassiel was unconvinced._

_“You woke up a week ago, we’ve been apart way longer than that!” she countered._

_“I was lonely!” Colin shouted, clenching his fists, and Cassiel shut up, knowing how rare it was for him to raise his voice. How rare it was for him to talk about emotions in general. “Dad died to save me, Cody isn’t waking up anytime soon, I just wanted somebody with me, and I know it’s selfish and irresponsible to use my Pathfinder status to pull you like this but-”_

_“Colin,” Cassiel cut him off once more. “You know I’m here for you, and I love you, but it’s not a good idea for me to go on the Tempest with you,” she sighed. Colin groaned, closing his eyes and throwing his head back._

_“I don’t understand!” he said. “You’ve always wanted to go and explore!” he prompted. “What changed?” Cassiel shook her head, flopping on her bed in her quarters. There was a moment or two of silence between the siblings, and Colin moved to sit next to her on the bed, allowing her a moment to gather her thoughts._

_“It’s not that,” she finally said. “I’m not scared of what’s out there,” she told him, and Colin tilted his head._

_“That doesn’t help me understand any,” he chuckled. “If anything now I’m completely lost.” Cassiel huffed slightly, turning away from Colin._

_“Cora hates me,” she mumbled in explanation, and Colin laughed. He knew it was kind of mean, knowing his sister was not someone who could do confrontation. Well-a fist fight maybe, he knew she could hold her own, having basic self defense training-but a verbal confrontation? Nope!_

_“Why would you think that?” he asked, knowing that while Cora was cold, it was unlikely that she actually_ hated _his sister._

 _“She thinks I’m lazy, and that I was a disappointment to Dad,” Cassiel explained, her voice void of any emotion, forcing herself not to betray how much of a disappointment she_ knew _she was to their father. Colin’s laughter immediately halted._

_“Say the word and she’s off the team, I want my baby sister on board,” he said, and Cassiel’s eyes widened._

_“NO!” she shouted, sitting up quickly and grabbing her brother’s arm. “I’ll go! It’s fine! I just… don’t want to interact with her too much,” her voice trailed off into a mumble near the end, and Colin sighed, throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him._

_“Deal,” he said, kissing her temple and rubbing her arm a bit. After a couple minutes of the siblings just basking in the other’s presence, Cassiel pulled away slightly to turn and make eye contact with Colin._

_“What would I even do?” she asked, and Colin was prepared for that._

_“I want you on the team in case of first contact with friendlies,” he said, knowing Cassiel was trained in diplomacy, and had both a general social sciences degree as well as a psychology degree. “Plus I need someone who can actually drive the Nomad,” he added as an afterthought, Cassiel rolling her eyes. Her brother could passably pilot a shuttle, but with driving ground vehicles, he was absolutely useless. He always joked that she stole his and Cody’s ability to drive so she could be so good at it, and Cassiel always rolled her eyes._

_But she was good at driving. Very good in fact. She had raced for money back in the Milky Way. Her specialty was the off road F2 tracks, though she was still amazing on normal F1 circuits._

_“So I’ll basically be a glorified chauffeur?” she asked, and Colin shook his head with a laugh, ruffling her hair slightly despite her whine of protest._

_“No! Of course not!” he grinned at her. “You’ll be my emotional support sibling!” he said, Cassiel glaring at him slightly._

_“Fine,” she huffed._

* * *

Cassiel was shaken back to reality when Colin responded to the Kett.

“You’re the one in _my_ way! Who are you?” he demanded, causing Cassiel to snort in amusement despite the situation. The amusement was gone, however, when the Tempest lurched and began moving towards the kett flagship, everyone stumbling and swaying.

“They’ve locked navigation!” Suvi announced worriedly, Kallo piping up in panic.

“We’re being steered into their ship!”

“Just tell me what you want,” Colin demanded, impressively keeping a level head, while his pilot and science officer lost theirs.

“I won’t explain what you can’t understand,” it deflected. Cassiel and Colin both turned their heads slightly as SAM spoke through their private channels.

“Ryder, I have almost regained control of the ship, I need a few more seconds,” he said, basically imploring Colin to stall for time.

“I actually know a lot about the Remnant,” Colin shrugged as if this were a casual conversation. “We should compare notes,” Cassiel shuffled closer to Kallo, giving him a look as she tapped her wrist, and the salarian thankfully got her message, nodding and readying himself to control the ship once more.

“Enough!” the Archon silenced him. “Your defiance is naive and reckless! This day marks the beginning of your greatness,” he said, Cassiel definitely _not_ liking the ominous sound of that.

“What?” she muttered under her breath. Just then, the Archon’s image flickered out, the ship’s main power being restored and screens flickering back to life.

“SAM?” Colin demanded.

“I have plotted a potential course through the scourge,” he responded, and Colin barely let him finish before shouting.

“Do it!”

Kallo quickly engaged the Tempest, the thrusters turning on and the ship flew through the scourge, dodging black tendrils with barrel rolls and maneuvers that Cassiel couldn’t name if she tried.

“Report!” Colin demanded after they all heard an explosion.

“Enemy destroyed, damage to aft sensors!” Suvi relayed, fingers flying across her display.

“Scourge got it?”

“Yes,” Suvi confirmed as the Tempest performed a particularly jerky maneuver, causing Cassiel to stumble into her brother, and Colin quickly locked an arm around her shoulder protectively.

“Get us out of here!” Liam urged with a nervous wobble in his voice, he and Cora both struggling to stay upright. Another explosion was heard, the Tempest barreling towards a small opening in the Scourge.

“It will be tight,” SAM informed, the entirety of the crew gritting their teeth nervously, and Cassiel heard Vetra from the armory.

“Kallo!” the turian shouted. 

“It’s not gonna fit!” Cassiel said worriedly as they continued to approach the opening.

“That’s what she said,” Colin laughed, and Cassiel glared at her brother.

“You want those to be your last words?!” she shouted incredulously right before the Tempest burst from the Scourge.

“Yes!” Kallo cheered, the Tempest having made it, though they would need to perform repairs like, yesterday, seeing as the ship was on fire.

Soon everyone was on the bridge, and Drack was laughing slightly.

“Nice work, kid!” he commended Kallo, and the salarian just blinked awkwardly at Drack, not quite sure how to take being called “kid”, even if he was the youngest on the ship.

“Yeah…” Colin trailed off. “But who the hell was that guy?” he asked, Cassiel shrugging. Before anyone could say anything more, Gil’s voice crackled through the comms.

“Ryder, we’ve got trouble down here! You need to find us a port, _now_!” he urged, and Colin turned to look out the viewport.

“Great,” he sighed. “Where the hell did we end up, anyway?” he asked, turning to Suvi.

“Sensors are damaged, but I think we’re at the vault’s coordinates,” Suvi replied, tapping the screen trying to get a clear reading.

“You think?” Colin asked, looking to the planet they had come to a stop in front of. “Gil, give it what you can, we’re setting down,” he announced as Kallo brought the Tempest down into the planet’s atmosphere. As they broke through into the cloud barrier, Suvi’s voice piped up in surprise.

“We’re being contacted,” she said, and Colin looked over at her.

“We have to land,” he muttered, knowing that they were done for if they didn’t do so soon. “Open a comm,” he ordered.

“ _Pove jagalan do!_ ” A voice came through. Everyone exchanged confused glances.

“What?” Cassiel muttered, obviously unfamiliar with the new language.

“ _Pove jagalan do!_ ” the voice commanded again. Colin cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Listen, uh, sorry to just show up like this, but I swear, we’re the galactic good guys!” he said, and Cassiel had to resist the urge to smack him. She bit her lip as they waited for a response, hoping against all hope that whoever this was could understand them, even if they couldn’t understand this person.

“ _Evfanola! Fahen an gasan regara!_ ” it responded. “ _Evfanola_ ,” what seemed to be laughter sounded through the comms, and Cassiel frowned slightly in confusion.

“They’re forcing us to land,” Kallo announced, and Cassiel huffed. Landing was landing, and landing was something they needed to do, so no complaints there.

“Then we land,” Colin said, knowing he had no control over this situation. The Tempest continued to cruise flanked by six smaller shuttles, and the entirety of the crew gasped upon seeing a lush green port.

“Yes!” Colin gasped. “Look at that! It’s beautiful!” he grinned, and Cassiel nodded in agreement.

Soon the Tempest landed, and it was admittedly not one of Kallo’s best landings, but nobody really seemed to care.

“A working vault!” Peebee muttered, and Cassiel nodded with Colin.

“We need in that vault,” he declared, and Vetra scoffed.

“Please, you’re not really gonna go out there on your own,” she said, and Colin shook his head.

“I’m not,” he confirmed, before slapping his sibling on the shoulder. “She is,” Cassiel nodded, expecting this. Seeing as they weren’t blown up on sight, diplomacy seemed to be the best course, and that was literally why she was on the ship. Well, on paper at least.

“Really?” Cora scoffed, and Cassiel and Colin both nodded.

“First contact is on me, it’s what I signed up for,” Cassiel confirmed. “And we can’t afford a repeat of last time,”

“Most important thing ever,” Liam chuckled. “No pressure,” Cassiel smiled nervously up at him, and he patted her on the shoulder. “You got this, Little Ryder!”

“Why do I have to be Little Ryder? Can’t I just be Cassiel?”  
“Nope,” Cassiel rolled her eyes.

“Alright, well, here I go,” she said, squaring her shoulders and going to exit the Tempest, before pausing and turning back. “Just, if they kill me, or if I die in some ridiculous way like falling off a cliff, please delete the vids,” she urged, and Vetra shot her a thumbs up, or at least a Turian version of one.

As she turned her back again, she cringed at hearing Cora’s voice mutter.

“50 credits says they kill her before she opens her mouth,”

Cassiel bit her lip, willing herself not to cry but unable to stop a couple of tears from leaking out of her eyes.

“How can I help, Cassiel?” SAM asked, and Cassiel shrugged.

“Can you increase my serotonin and dopamine levels for like… 30 seconds?” she asked, hoping the happy hormones would tide her over.

“Affirmative,” after taking a deep breath, Cassiel stepped off the ramp of the Tempest, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took some liberties with Shelesh, and basically made my own new language, while using some of the canon words... So yeah, that's gonna be a thing. No Evfra yet, sorry! But next chapter!


	2. II: Oh Look! Angara!

As Cassiel came off the Tempest, stepping into the sunlight, she made sure her hands were up by her head, visible to the many aliens pointing guns in her direction. They were tall, in the same height range as Turians, while their skin resembled a salarian’s, though more vibrant in color. Cassiel almost stopped short when she made eye contact with one of them, convinced she was looking into a galaxy. She kept moving, however, when she took note of the brow ridge furrowed in hatred just above those eyes… or at least that’s what she assumed the look was, one never knew how facial expressions translated across alien species.

Cassiel was met with a group of helmeted soldiers, speaking among each other as one of them pulled out a scanner. Cassiel nodded at them, unsure if a verbal greeting would be appreciated, and once the alien finished scanning her, they motioned her forward, towards a group of five aliens, a bright blue one standing slightly forward from the others.

“I’m Paaran Shie, governor of Aya,” she, or at least Cassiel assumed they were female, introduced herself, Cassiel’s translator, or more probably SAM, finally picking up the language. “We are the angara,”. Cassiel bowed her head slightly in greeting.

“Hello, I’m Cassiel Ryder, I’m with the Pathfinding team for the Initiative,” she said, craning her neck to look up at the angara, who was naturally already much taller than herself, and up a couple of stairs from her.

“Yes,” she confirmed in monotone. Or was it monotone? Perhaps the translator wasn’t picking up emotional intonation? “You crossed darkspace, I’ve heard of your journey,”. The governor was cut off when a purple angara wearing a blue poncho-like garment quickly strode up to her, turning to face Cassiel. “Jaal, I have this in hand,” the governor said, reaching a hand out to the male, who Cassiel assumed was named Jaal. The angara simply turned his head back to her as he descended the steps.

“Evfra saw the ship come in, and sent me to find out what’s going on,” he explained, slowly stalking down the steps towards Cassiel.

“She’s a human from another galaxy, with the… Pathfinder,” Paaran Shie introduced the woman, who shifted her weight from one side to the other, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear in a display of nerves. It occurred to her that she hadn’t identified her race… perhaps they had been eavesdropping on Initiative transmissions? Not impossible. Or maybe they had run into the Exiles, wherever they had run off to.

“Aya is hidden,” Jaal said as he got in Cassiel’s face, leaning down so his eyes were level with hers. “Protected,” he stressed. “What do you want?”

“We are really sorry about this! We didn’t really want to land on your planet… on fire,” she cringed, her apology sounding pitiful even to her own ears.

“Oh, good,” Jaal said, backing up with a sarcastic demeanor. “Because that would have been a… particularly bad plan,” Cassiel eyes widened as the serious male made a joke. Cassiel gave him a small smile.

“Uh… yeah, yeah it would’ve,” she agreed. Jaal straightened to his full height once more, giving Cassiel a once over before turning back to the governor.

“I’ll inform Evfra, he’ll be waiting for you in his office at the Resistance Headquarters,” he informed, walking back up the steps and continuing the way he came. “I’ll meet you there,”

“I will accompany you through our city,” Paaran Shie said, though by the stress Aya’s governor put on the word  _ accompany _ , Cassiel knew that Paaran Shie was more of a babysitter. “Your crew will stay on your ship, follow me,” she ordered, turning and beginning to make her way towards wherever this “Resistance Headquarters” was. Cassiel took the order, following at a far enough distance as not to make anyone nervous. When Cassiel reached the top of the stairs, Paaran Shie turned back around to face her. “Follow closely, do not try to explore the city or interact with  _ anyone _ ,” she stressed. “Evfra’s guards will use force if necessary,” Cassiel nodded in understanding.

“Yes, of course, I understand,” Cassiel said as the bright blue woman began to walk again. “Would it be alright if I asked you questions?” she sought, and Paaran Shie sighed.

“I suppose,” she confirmed, and Cassiel smiled slightly, glad that she could at least sate some of her curiosity in the present moment.

“If you’re the governor of Aya, why do I need to see this Evfra person?” she asked.

“He’s the leader of the Resistance,” Paaran Shie answered curtly, not really answering Cassiel’s question. Or perhaps she was, to someone who knew the angara, but Cassiel was completely blind here, figuratively, at least.

“What is The Resistance?” she asked.

“They fight the kett,” Paaran Shie said. “And protect us,” she added as an afterthought.  _ So a sort of military _ . Cassiel thought.

As they walked down a flight of stairs, a group of what Cassiel assumed were civilians were peering over the shoulders of some guards. There were murmurings of curiosity.

“They should lock it up,” Cassiel heard one say, and she flinched slightly at the hatred in the woman’s words and voice. SAM piped up before Cassiel could dwell further on the comment.

“I detect unusual levels of electro-static energy in the angara,” he said, and Cassiel nodded her head slightly to confirm that she heard him, though he’d likely know anyway.

There were more murmurings from the crowd, many voices fearful. Cassiel looked down, saddened to know that this race was so weary of outsiders, probably because of the Kett. Cassiel was shocked, however, when a large goat-like creature nudged through the crowd to approach her. It was 4 feet tall, standing on all six of its legs, with a long tail and green fur. The way it moved and looked at her with eyes similar to that of the angara reminded Cassiel of a dog, and she instinctively put her hand out for it to sniff. 

She barely noticed the guards tense, raising their guns a little higher in case the alien were to try anything. The creature approached her without fear, sniffing at her hand and then nudging its nose into it. Cassiel smiled softly as the creature rubbed against her hand, getting closer and closer until it was rubbing up against her legs. The crowd gasped, including the guards, seeing this small alien handling a creature with such tenderness. 

Paaran Shie stopped when she noticed her tail was missing, turning to look and gasping inaudibly when she saw the display. Her field let out a pulse of surprised energy, but she tried not to let it show on her face, knowing the Initiative species couldn’t sense bioelectricity.

“Keep up,” she called, and Cassiel snapped her head up, looking embarrassed as she jogged to catch up. She was pleased, however, when the creature followed along next to her, and she rested a hand on its back, lightly stroking the fur there.

“None of the local flora register in my data files,” SAM piped up again, and Cassiel nodded minutely, briefly considering taking out her scanner, but deciding against it. It would likely only agitate the guards, and the last thing she wanted was to get shot because she wanted to know why a plant was glowing. Regardless, Cassiel did some scanning with her eyes, observing the beautiful flora and pretty architecture, nice blue and green awnings protecting the city’s inhabitants from the sun.

“This place is… beautiful,” she said breathlessly as she took in the waterfall they were passing.

“Thank you, you are the first outsider to see it,” Paaran Shie admitted, the thanks sounding awkward.

“I’m truly honored,” Cassiel responded with the same soft smile she had directed towards the creature, and said creature nudged her side a little when she stopped stroking its fur, causing her to continue with the stroking. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry I stopped petting you,” she mumbled, and Paaran Shie’s head tilted.

“What was that?” she asked, and Cassiel blushed.

“Oh… um, I was just apologizing to this… creature, because it didn’t want me to stop petting it,” she said, ducking her head. Paaran Shie surprisingly let out a little chuckle at the adorable little human.

“They are very affectionate creatures,” she said with a shrug, a light smile gracing her face, and Cassiel found that the woman was quite pretty, in her own alien way. 

“This Evfra…” Cassiel paused, thinking of how to phrase her question. “What happens if he doesn’t like me?” she asked, and Paaran Shie scoffed.

“He won’t,” she said. “You will need to earn his trust,” though Aya’s governor didn’t think it would be hard for this little individual to garner the trust of their gruff military leader. Already she was finding it hard to  _ not _ like the human with a flanjaak glued to her side.

“That’s understandable, he’s responsible for everyone’s safety,” Cassiel confirmed. “I don’t think I’d be able to handle that, which is why I’m glad my brother is the Pathfinder,” she disclosed, deciding a little openness wouldn’t hurt.

“A leader’s burden is no easy burden to bear,” Paaran Shie agreed, nodding. Cassiel gulped as the pair, or trio if you counted the creature, approached a large door, the volume of guards increasing.

“This is the Resistance Headquarters,” Paaran Shie said, turning back to Cassiel. “Evfra should be waiting inside,” Cassiel nodded, taking a deep breath before stepping through the door, which slid shut with a hiss behind her. 

Cassiel was kind of taken back when she saw Jaal walking next to another soldier, his voice raised slightly. 

“-this situation is now your fault! Don’t get kicked out Maraan, not because of them!” he urged, Cassiel flinching at his hard tone, even though it wasn’t directed at her. The soldier by his side turned to him sharply.

“But you’re telling me to be weak!” he protested.

“No,” Jaal reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. “I’m telling you to be strong, through your cunning and heart,” he said, before turning and noticing Cassiel awkwardly staring at him. He did a double take when he noticed the creature by her side. He shook his head slightly, turning back to the man. “Okay?” the man nodded, turning to walk out before Jaal called after him. “Hey!” the man turned back, his shoulders slumped, and handed Jaal a modified Kett rifle.

“It really is the best one in the Resistance,” he said, and Jaal nodded.

“I know,” the man turned to walk off, slowing and staring as he passed Cassiel, the woman smiling shyly up at him, fidgeting nervously. She approached Jaal now that he was no longer preoccupied.

“Our experience with the Kett makes us naturally distrustful of aliens,” he said, and Cassiel nodded.

“I can see that, and I understand, we’ve had our own run-ins with the Kett,” she said, and Jaal paused, seemingly surprised that the angara weren’t the only one fighting the Kett.

“Then you really do understand,” he said softly. “When the Archon came to Heleus, he demolished our sovereign state, took what he wanted as if we were nothing,” he told her, his face taking on a fiercely passionate expression. “Now, the Kett mercilessly abduct angara. Oten we never see our people again,” he took a breath before straightening his back. “Come this way, Evfra is waiting,” Cassiel was surprised by the complete 180 as he began walking and motioned for her to follow.

“Wait-the Kett kidnap you? Steal your people?” she gasped in shock. It was one thing to be killed in a skirmish, but they were aiming to abduct them? Their goal was to take prisoners? It was sick.

“And the Resistance fights them everyday, with everything we have,” Jaal said proudly.

“But what are they even after?” Cassiel asked, confused as to why the Kett would just take prisoners but make no demands for something in exchange for their release. Jaal sighed.

“You should save your questions for Evfra,” he said, and Cassiel nodded in understanding. They came into a control room, monitors covering most of the walls, and a male stood leaned against a desk by the window, speaking into a communicator.

“Kadara be damned, I won’t lose Voeld!” he growled, and Jaal cleared his throat.

“Evfra, this is one of the aliens from the MEElky Way, a human with the Pathfinder team,” he introduced, and Cassiel giggled a bit at his pronunciation of Milky way, unable to help herself. It just didn’t sound natural coming from his mouth. The male turned to face her, a harsh glare on his face, however it softened when he made eye contact with her.

Evfra was shocked to see the flanjaak happily standing at the human’s side. He was even more shocked by the field it was emitting, an aura of such happiness and affection that Evfra almost stumbled. The human had laughed softly when Jaal said the name of her galaxy, and Evfra had to admit the sound was… pleasing… in its own way. The flanjaak’s tail wagged as Evfra stood and walked closer to the human, leaning down to look her in the eyes.

Cassiel was gaping at the blue male, eyes involuntarily scanning his form.  _ Tall… _ While all the angara were tall, he appeared to be taller than average, towering over a foot and a half over herself. She was snapped back to reality when the creature that had been following her nuzzled into her shoulder.

“Oh! Right! I’m… uh… my name is Cassiel Ryder, with the Andromeda Initiative,” she stuttered out an introduction, face blazing red. The male gave her no visible reaction, though Cassiel noticed a couple of the other angara in the room looking at her funny.

Evfra’s field let out a burst of affectionate confusion at the tiny, embarrassed creature as she stuttered her way through introducing herself. He ignored Jaal’s teasing field at his reaction, straightening up.

“And why are you on Aya, Cassiel Ryder?” he asked, and Cassiel straightened up slightly, trying to make herself taller so she didn’t feel so tiny with this giant crouched in front of her.

“Well, we were, uh, headed to the Osnian system and we ended up flying directly into the path of a Kett fleet. My brother, the Pathfinder, he’s the head of the ship, ended up talking to some important Kett with a demented halo who forced his way through our comms, and our pilot was able to get us through some scourge field and we ended up here… on fire,” she rambled, trailing off at the end with a flinch. “Which is why we  _ really _ needed to land, so uh… thanks for at least letting us land so our engineer can get started on repairs,” she said, and Evfra’s eyes widened at her thanks, though he carried on.

“Aya has remained hidden for decades, I refuse to believe you found it by accident,” he pressed, and Cassiel paused as SAM spoke.

“There appears to be a working vault on this planet, I was able to plot our course based on the map your brother found in the vault on Eos,” he told her, and Cassiel rolled with it.

“We were able to plot a course here because of some sort of map we found on Eos… my brother activated a vault of some kind that healed?” she paused, trying to think of a better word to use but coming up blank. “ The planet… I think that would be the right term… radiation levels have decreased and the water is potable now.” she explained, and Evra rose a brow ridge in the universal expression of scepticism. 

“Your brother… activated a vault?” he repeated, and Jaal spoke up.

“That is consistent with reports we’ve been getting from the area,” he confirmed, and Cassiel nodded.

“Yes! You see, we, the Initiative, are trying to find a home in this galaxy, and in order to do that we need to activate more vaults so more planets are viable for life!” she explained, knowing that if they asked her to speak science or technobabble she was screwed. “ We think your vault here could provide insight if we could see it?” she ended tentatively, and was immediately shot down.

“No,” Evfra immediately said with a scowl, and Cassiel pouted unconsciously, tilting her head.

“Why?” she asked, and Evfra just sighed with a shake of his head.

“We don’t trust you,” he said curtly, and Cassiel went silent for a moment, pensive. The creature, who had been relatively calm until this point, sat down on her feet and started to push against her legs, and Cassiel was reminded of a golden retriever her family used to have. He would do the same thing, just wanting pats, so Cassiel reflexively squatted down as the creature went onto its back, giving his belly some rubs.

All the angara in the room, Evfra included, gaped at the human with wide eyes. Her legs… How did her legs do that?! It was unnatural. 

The creature gave Cassiel a happy hum, and Evfra cleared his throat. Cassiel gasped, shooting back up to stand, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear.

“Sorry!” she apologized, smiling shyly. “They’re just so… cute!” she giggled, and Evfra’s field let out that odd feeling of affectionate confusion. Jaal snorted at the General’s field, shooting a smirk in his direction, and the leader’s scowl only deepened.

“Besides, the vault is currently sealed, and we cannot open it,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“The Moshae could,” Jaal piped up, ignoring Evfra’s glare.

“The Moshae?” Cassiel asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, they met! And Cassiel has a pet...  
> Anyway, I know I posted two chapters one day but it didn't feel right just leaving the story off without meeting Evfra yet.


	3. III: Welcome to the Crew!

“The Moshae, yes, she is our spiritual leader, and an expert on the Remnant!” Jaal said with a smile, clearly fond of this woman on a personal level. He deliberately did not look in Evfra’s direction, the angry field coming from the Resistance General was enough for him to know that Evfra did  _ not _ want him talking to Cassiel about the Moshae.

“Oh! Where is she? May I speak with her?” Cassiel cringed at herself, turning back to face Evfra. “Not to circumvent your leadership, or anything, I’m sorry-that wasn’t what I-” Evfra cut her off.

“She is gone,” he sighed, running a palm down his face, drawing Cassiel’s eyes to the human-like hands, however three of the digits were fused together, making the angaran’s hand look more like a mitten.

“Gone as in..?” Cassiel prompted, hoping that this spiritual leader was alive and just off planet somewhere. The creature nudged her again, and she continued to scritch it between the two horns on its head.

“The Moshae was captured by the Kett recently,” Jaal said sadly, head bowed. Cassiel’s face turned hopeful, and determined, as she straightened and stared Evfra in the eyes.

“We can help,” she said, talking over his disbelieving scoff. “At least let us try to prove ourselves, and if we fail, then it means no more to you! The Resistance will not have lost anything!” she implored him, leaning forward, unaware of the General’s heart rate picking up. The General held her gaze for a moment, face giving away nothing, before he looked away with an annoyed expression.

“Fine,” he sighed, hands moving to rub at his temples in clear exhaustion.

“I’ll accompany them!” Jaal volunteered not a second after, both Cassiel and Evfra’s heads snapping to look at him in surprise.

“Absolutely n-”

“I know you can spare me,” the purple angara pushed with a smirk, and Evfra scowled, not that his resting face was much different. Cassiel was witness to a stare off, neither males moving or even changing their facial expressions, however Cassiel was unaware of the battle between their fields, leading to Evfra eventually acquiescing with a small nod. Jaal smirked in victory before turning to the door.

“I will accompany you back to your ship,” he said to Cassiel, gesturing for her to follow him, but Evfra piped up.

“I will join you,” he said, and suddenly became aware of the disbelieving stares from everyone in the room. “I want to see the alien’s ship up close,” he said, and Cassiel nodded.

“Of course! I could give you a tour if you-”

“Just the outside!” Evfra rushed out, not wanting to interact with more aliens for the moment, and Cassiel flinched at his loud tone.

Jaal led them back through the large doors Cassiel came in through, Evfra walking by Cassiel’s side with a reasonable distance between them, and the creature walking on her other, emitting soft purrs and seemingly skipping. Cassiel was too caught up in trying to take in the beautiful city this time to pay any attention to the hostile whispers coming from some of the angara they passed, and the woman was also oblivious to Evfra’s curious stare.

This woman was confusing, not necessarily in a bad way, just in a curious way, is what Evfra concluded. She seemed to fluctuate rapidly between confident and eager to shy and inarticulate, though standing next to her made him realize how tiny she was and Evfra could kind of understand why she would be so intimidated. Her head didn’t even come to his shoulders, and the flanjaak looked huge next to her, only coming up to an angara’s hip but on the human woman it reached her chest.

Before either the Resistance General or the human realized, they were back at the docks and all standing in front of the ramp onto the Tempest. Cassiel startled when she saw it, but took a deep breath and turned to Evfra.

“Thank you, for giving us a chance,” she said with a small smile, and Evfra simply grunted at her in acknowledgement. Cassiel nodded, already understanding he was a man of few words, and turned to Jaal.

“Everyone is going to meet us in the vidcon room so I can inform them of the situation, I’ll take you straight there, and we can do the tour a little later, okay?” she asked, beginning to step up onto the ramp as Jaal nodded.

“I will relay the message to the Pathfinder,” SAM said, getting her hint to send the crew a message. 

Cassiel paused when she noticed she had a tail that wasn’t Jaal, and turned to the creature.

“You can’t come with me, sweetie, you belong here,” she said with a sad smile, pointing back to the city. The creature sat stubbornly on the ramp, whimpering when Cassiel gave it a nudge to try to get it to go back.

“He’s bonded to you, you should take him with you,” Evfra said with a sigh, melting at the sad look in both the flanjaak and human’s eyes.

“Really?!” Cassiel’s head snapped up so she could shoot him the happiest smile he had seen in a long time. “Thank you!” she gasped, extending her arms and rushing towards him, instinctively going to hug him before she thought better of it, lowering her arms awkwardly and coming to a stop a few feet in front of him. The General cleared his throat softly, feeling a little awkward at the affection the human had almost given him. “Uh… what kind of creature is it?” she asked instead of hugging him, and Evfra went to huff before realizing that obviously the human wouldn’t know what it was, despite it being a common pet among the angara.

“He is a flanjaak,” Evfra said, and Cassiel beamed at him.

“A flanjaak,” she repeated, looking to Evfra to confirm she got the pronunciation right. He nodded. “Thank you!” she repeated, and turned to bring both the flanjaak and Jaal onto the Tempest. Jaal, before he turned to follow the human onto her ship, looked back at Evfra, his field teasing the general’s.

“Go,” Evfra huffed, rolling his eyes and turning to go back to Resistance HQ. Jaal shook his head with a smile and turned back to get on the Tempest.

Jaal tried to be subtle in his observation of the ship as Cassiel led him up two levels to the vidcon room, but failed when Cassiel turned to look back at him.

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” she asked, and Jaal tilted his head.

“She?” he repeated, and Cassiel giggled a bit.

“Oh sorry! Most of the Milky Way species refer to ships and pieces of machinery as a ‘she’, but I’m not actually sure why…” she trailed off, a pensive look on her face, and Jaal realized she was speaking about the Tempest.

“It is a beautiful ship,” he admitted, allowing himself to gawk more openly at the sleek design.

“So do you have specific missions we can do to work towards gaining your trust?” she asked, and Jaal nodded, explaining the situations of both Havarl and Voeld. He followed Cassiel up a ramp and looked wide-eyed at the viewports wrapping all around the room.

“Yeah, I like that feature too,” Cassiel smiled at him when she noticed what specifically he was gawking at. “It’s nice to just stare out at the stars,”

Before Jaal could vocalize a reply, he was startled when a human male ran up to Cassiel.

“You brought a pet?!” he asked excitedly, crouching down and staring at the flanjaak, hands fidgeting as if he was unsure whether or not to pet it. Cassiel raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what you’re taking away from this?” she asked, wishing she was more surprised at her older brother. “Really?”

“What’s its name?” he pressed, ignoring the woman’s unamused expression. Jaal was just staring as the two interacted. Without any introductions, he could safely assume that this man was Cassiel’s brother, the Pathfinder, with how casually the two interacted. Cassiel pondered for a moment as she crouched down in front of the flanjaak as well, peering into his eyes as she rubbed his floppy ear.

“Mr. Tumnus,” she finally said, beaming. Jaal’s brow ridge rose, pondering the odd name.

“Narnia, really?” a dark skinned human asked, snorting in laughter. Cassiel just glared at him. The casual, easygoing nature that had surrounded the group could only last so long, though.

“What is he doing here?” Cora demanded with a scowl, pointing a finger at Jaal as she came to stand next to the Pathfinder, who straightened up. Jaal noted Cassiel’s flinch at the woman’s voice. Cora tapped her foot impatiently, and Cassiel schooled her expression, standing up and turning to look up at the woman. It was only then that Jaal realized how short she was, even for a human. He had assumed she was average for human height, despite being comically small next to the angara, but not so. Her brother stood about a foot taller than her, and the blonde woman had almost a whole head in height over her. 

“First of all,” Cassiel said, hoping Cora didn’t notice the nervous lilt that had snuck into her voice when addressing her, “don’t point, it’s rude,” Cora’s eyes narrowed into an even harsher glare as she slowly lowered her finger, while Colin’s eyes widened at the bravery his little sister was displaying in front of the alpha female who she was, frankly, terrified of. “This is Jaal ama Darav,” Cassiel introduced, turning to address the whole room. “He’ll be coming with us as we work to gain the trust of the angara,” she said, and Colin piped up.

“So that’s what they’re called, the angara?” he confirmed, and Cassiel nodded. Cora just scoffed.

“Why do we need their trust?” she challenged, and Cassiel sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in clear irritation.

“Do you see this planet?” she asked, rhetorically of course. “The angara have a functioning vault that could be the key to activating the others! We need their help! And honestly, they could benefit from ours! So we need their trust!” she explained, and Colin got in between Cora and Cassiel before the confrontation could progress any further in front of their new crewmate.

“Cora, back off,” he said with a glare, and the woman nodded curtly, striding over to stand near Liam.

“What happened?” Peebee finally asked. “I wanted to look around!” they sighed, and Cassiel mirrored it.

“The angara aren’t comfortable letting us just ‘look around’ their city,” she explained, and Drack turned to look at Jaal.

“Well why not?” he asked, and Jaal stayed silent, not really sure if the huge alien was addressing him. Liam spoke, looking nervously at Jaal.

“Do the… do the translators work?” he asked, and flinched when Jaal answered.

“They work,” he confirmed, and Cassiel rolled her eyes at the jittery behavior of everyone else.

“Can you… give everyone a quick rundown?” she asked, hoping him telling them the angara’s side would help smooth things over.

“One day, about 80 years ago,” he began. “The Archon and the kett arrived in Heleus, and the horror began,”

“They declared war?” Vetra asked, and Jaal shook his head.

“Nothing so easy to define, or fight,” he sighed, and Cassiel nodded slightly, speaking up.

“The kett kidnap angara, their people disappear without a trace. What if they were us? Or what if we’re next?” she asked, and Drack grunted.

“You know I’ll fight kett all day long, kid, but that’s no plan,” he said, and Peebee nodded.

“I agree, we need to get into that vault!” she looked to Colin.

“Surprisingly, I’m with Peebee,” Cora confirmed, saying nothing of how Cassiel said that was why they were doing this in the first place. “Our own mission has to take priority!” Cassiel rolled her eyes.

“We have a plan, and even though nothing about this is a straight shot to settling in Andromeda, it is still our mission,” she looked pointedly at Cora before turning to Jaal. “Jaal, do you mind showing everyone the options you told me about?” she asked, leading him to vidcon and quickly showing him how to pull up different coordinates. Jaal nodded, and began to speak, telling himself this was just another briefing.

“The Resistance is stretched thin. I was tasked with traveling to two of our worlds at our briefing this morning,” he explained. “And you will accompany me,”

“Because?” Liam prompted confrontationally, and Cassiel was  _ so _ close to just throwing her hands up and letting everyone try to force their way into Aya’s vault.

“Because then, Evfra will see you as trustworthy, and you want that,” he explained, as if he were speaking to a child.

“Who is Evfra?” Colin asked, and Cassiel took over for Jaal momentarily.

“Evfra de Tershaav is the leader of The Resistance, the angara’s fighting force against the kett,” she said, then turned to Jaal and motioned for him to continue.

“The two worlds are Havarl and Voeld,” Jaal said, pulling up a hologram of both, before magnifying Voeld. “Before the Scourge disaster, Voeld was a thriving planet of billions, a shining center of technology and life,”

“And now?” Vetra asked, and Jaal’s jaw clenched, not at the turian, but at what Voeld had become.

“It’s the center of our ground war against the kett. Our Resistance base is fighting Kett Command for control of the planet,” 

“What about the other?” Cora asked, and Jaal’s tone took on a slightly nostalgic note.

“Havarl is the birthplace of the angara. It’s started to degrade, to become wild and dangerous, we suspect Remnant,” his voice was sad as he explained.

“Now we’re talking,” Peebee muttered, and Cassiel rolled her eyes fondly at the Tempest’s resident mad scientist.

“We’ve recently lost contact with our scientists,” Jaal continued as if Peebee hadn’t spoken.

“Still don’t get how any of this helps us,” Drack piped up, and Cassiel smirked over at him teasingly.

“Stop being such a pessimist, Grumpy!” she said, and Drack growled at her.

“You’re lucky you’re not even big enough to be a good sporting game, or else…” Drack trailed off, and Cassiel beamed at him.

“It’s your call, Colin,” she turned to her elder brother, and he pondered for a moment before looking up at everybody.

“Havarl seems like a solid bet for now,” he said, and everyone else began to go their separate ways. “Dismissed… I guess,” he sighed, and Cassiel gave him a quick side hug.

“You’ll get there,” she said encouragingly, and Colin nodded before turning to Jaal. He opened his mouth a couple times, but each time no words would come out, and eventually he just turned to Cassiel.

“Would you mind showing Jaal around?” he asked, and Cassiel giggled.

“Can do,” she said, walking down the ramp and gesturing for Jaal to follow her.

“I um… I apologize for Lieutenant Harper’s behavior,” she said with a sigh. “She tends to be… hostile… to everyone,” she explained, careful not to let her own feelings bias how he forms his opinion of Cora. It was true, Cora was standoffish, if not plain hostile towards everyone she met.

“I understand,” he said, before remembering how Cassiel flinched at Cora’s appearance. “What has she done to hurt you?” he asked, and Cassiel tensed.

“What?” she laughed nervously. “I don’t-”

“It’s obvious that she has hurt you,” Jaal cut her off before she could deny it. “And she is more hostile than warranted towards you specifically,” he pressed, and Cassiel sighed.

“It… it’s complicated,” she said finally, and Jaal raised a brow ridge.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he pressed, looking pointedly at Cassiel. The small human eventually groaned after a moment of silence, and explained it to him, knowing he wouldn’t drop it.

“She was my father’s 2nd,” she explained. “And while she admires Colin and Cody, she thinks I’m a disappointment to him, since I never joined the military,” 

“Cody?” Jaal asked.

“My older sister, she and Colin are twins,” she told him. “Something went wrong when they were taking her out of cryo, and she’s in a coma right now,” Jaal’s eyes widened.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and Cassiel shrugged.

“She’ll wake up eventually,” she said, and Jaal nodded awkwardly.

“I can understand,” he said after a moment, and Cassiel looked at him curiously. “Other’s disappointment, I mean,” he clarified. “My family, the ama Darav name, is full of strong fighters, leaders, and even though I am respected in the Resistance, I sometimes feel as though I haven’t lived up to my name yet,” he said, and Cassiel smiled softly, glad that he felt comfortable enough to share something so personal.

“I’m glad you told me,” she said, hesitating before resting a hand on his bicep, and Jaal smiled at her, letting her know the contact was okay. She squeezed lightly before letting go, and turning to look at the ship, thinking of where to start the tour.

“Would you like to figure out where you’ll be sleeping or see the ship first?” she asked, and Jaal hummed in thought.

“Sleeping,” he said simply, and Cassiel nodded, bringing him across the research station and over the glass walkway.

“That was the research station,” she explained. “Colin also handles colony business there,” she slid down the ladder, Jaal quickly following after. Cassiel walked through the bathroom to the crew quarters.

“This is the bathroom, ya know, shower, toilet, all that jazz,” she explained. “Most people don’t lock the door unless they’re using the toilet, with so many of the crew being military, they’re not really bothered by showering in stalls, but there is a locking mechanism,” she pointed to the panel, and Jaal nodded as they walked into the crew’s quarters. “This is the crew’s quarters, we have an empty bunk there,” Cassiel pointed to a bottom bunk, and Jaal shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. Cassiel noticed this, and smiled warmly. “But if it makes you uncomfortable sleeping with the rest of the crew, we can find somewhere else?” she asked, and Jaal nodded eagerly.

“Please,” he said, and Cassiel brought him back the way they came.

“Most of the crew hunker down somewhere else anyway, despite having their own bunk. I mean they all still occasionally use their bunks, but they all have their own spaces,” she explained as she turned left at the end of the walkway. Vetra nodded at Cassiel and Jaal as they turned into the tech lab, having been at one of the consoles next to the door.

“Okay, this is the tech lab,” Cassiel said, gesturing around the room. “I bet we can fabricate you a bed or something, and we can grab the mattress from your bunk and drag it up here,” she said after a moment of thought, briefly wondering if they could even detach the mattress from the bunk. 

“Thank you,” Jaal said with a slight smile, giving Mr. Tumnus a pat on the head when he walked up to him.

“Of course!” Cassiel responded with a sweet smile. “I’ll leave you to settle in, just come find me when you’re ready for the tour, then we can grab the mattress too,” she said, turning to leave, but Jaal stopped her.

“Wait!” Cassiel paused and turned back to the angara, waiting for whatever he wanted to say. “How will I find you?”

“I can direct you to Cassiel,” SAM said, Jaal jumping in shock at the disembodied voice.

“What is that?”

“Oh! That’s just SAM,” Cassiel paused, wondering if she should really divulge that they have an AI both integrated with their ship and her and Colin’s brains. “He’s our… assistant of sorts,” she said, figuring that was a vague but truthful enough answer to satisfy Jaal, and also not seem like a lie if and hopefully when the angara and Initiative species are on good enough terms to share stuff like that.

“Hello, Jaal ama Darav,” SAM greeted, Jaal flinching slightly this time. “I am SAM,” Jaal nodded, his eyes wide and shoulders hunched. Cassiel saw how tense he was and gave him a soft smile, hoping it was reassuring.

“I’ll leave you to it!” she said, turning and leaving the tech lab.


	4. IV: New Pet Mom

After leaving Jaal in the tech lab, Cassiel began to set everything up for Mr. Tumnus.

“Oh god, I hope they can be litter trained,” she muttered as she grabbed a box from the Nomad’s bay. Her hands went to her hips as she thought about what she could use for litter, eventually grabbing some soil that hadn’t yet been moved into the plant lab. “I’ll pick up something next time we stop,” she grumbled as she dragged the box and huge bag of soil to her and Colin’s shared quarters. She was sure there would be some type of pet litter at some type of market on the Nexus. Mr. Tumnus was just zigzagging in front of her, unhelpful but cute as he excitedly wagged his tail. The doors to the Pathfinder quarters opened and Mr. Tumnus zipped in, happy chirps escaping him.

“Yep, this is it!” Cassiel said, and Mr. Tumnus went immediately to her bed and jumped up on it. Cassiel giggled as he snuggled into the blankets. “Does that smell like me?” she asked, pointlessly. The flanjaak just blinked up at her as he rubbed his back against the bed. Cassiel giggled and quickly poured some of the soil into the box so there was a thin layer on the bottom. 

After everything was set up, Cassiel flopped on her bed next to Mr. Tumnus, who whimpered as he snuggled into her stomach.

“What’s the matter baby?” she asked, knowing he couldn’t verbally answer. The flanjaak simply looked up at her, his beautiful galaxy eyes widening slightly. “Are you hungry?” she asked, sitting up before freezing. “What do you even eat?” she paused, thinking for a minute, before realizing this might be a  _ big  _ problem. “Shit!” Cassiel booked it to the tech lab, quickly gesturing for Mr. Tumnus to stay, not that he made any move to get up, he simply closed his eyes and took a nap. 

Cassiel didn’t even think to knock as she burst into the tech lab.

“Jaal!” she yelled, and the purple angara startled, dropping something. “Shit! Sorry,” Cassiel frantically dove to catch it and thrust it back into his hands. “Do you know what flanjaak’s eat?” she asked quickly, and Jaal blinked at her in shock for a second.

“Are you even breathing?” he asked finally, and Cassiel blinked at him, deliberately taking a breath after realizing that she hadn’t taken a breath since she came into the tech lab.

“Yes, but food?” she got out, and Jaal thought for a second.

“I’m not actually sure,” Cassiel groaned at that answer.

“Evfra seemed to know stuff, right? Can I have his message info?” she asked, and Jaal nodded, pulling up his tool and chuckling as he gave her the information. 

“Thank you, bye!” Cassiel rushed, and as quickly as she stormed in, she was gone. Jaal just sighed, laughing slightly as he went back to cleaning his rifle, which he didn’t think Cassiel even noticed was the object she caught and handed him.

As Cassiel walked through the Nomad bay to the lift, she quickly typed out a message to send to the Resistance general.

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Subject: MR. TUMNUS NEEDS FOOD _

  1. _TUMNUS IS WHIMPERING AND I THINK HE’S HUNGRY AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO FEED HIM PLEASE HELP!!!_



_ -A Concerned Pet Owner _

It occurred to her only after she hit send that perhaps that wasn’t the most professional message to send, and not very wise to send to someone who she had only spoken to for maybe 5 minutes. She cringed, not really noticing the doors next to her sliding open until Lexi’s angry voice spoke up.

“CASSIEL MIRA RYDER!” they screamed, and Cassiel slowly turned with a nervous smile.

“What’s up Lexi?” she asked, shoulders hunched as she prepared for the tongue lashing she probably deserved, though she wasn’t sure what she had done this time.

“You brought an animal on board without me scanning it?!” Lexi shouted, glare steely as Cassiel flinched at their volume.

“I forgot?” she said, though it sounded more like a question with the anxious raise in pitch of her voice. Lexi was not appeased by this statement by any means. She grabbed Cassiel’s arm and dragged her to the Pathfinder quarters, knowing that was where the animal would be.

“You forgot?” she demanded, and Cassiel quickly went to rouse Mr. Tumnus.

“Well, yes,” she muttered, smiling gently at the flanjaak as he woke up. “But look at that face!” she gushed, turning his head so he could give his adorable Andromeda Puppy Dog Eyes™ to Lexi. The asari doctor sighed and raised their tool, scanning him quickly.

“Yes, adorable, what is it called?” they asked, monotone, conveying their lack of amusement of this situation. Their tool pinged, showing Lexi that Mr. Tumnus was not carrying anything harmful.

“Mr. Tumnus,” Cassiel answered, and Lexi sighed.

“I mean its species,” they clarified, and Cassiel giggled.

“Oh, he’s a flanjaak,” she said, and Lexi nodded.

“He’s safe, but I don’t want anything like this happening again,” they pointed a finger in Cassiel’s face, and the human nodded.

“Of course, Lexi,” she confirmed, and the asari just sighed.

“I’ll also need to meet this Jaal,” they said, and Cassiel nodded.

“Sure, I’ll bring him to medbay after I give him a tour,” she said, and Lexi nodded as they left. 

Around 10 minutes after the ship’s doctor left, Cassiel’s omnitool pinged, and the woman quickly opened the message, sighing in relief when she saw it was Evfra.

_ To: Cassiel Ryder _

_ From: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ Re: MR. TUMNUS NEEDS FOOD _

_ I’m assuming this Mr. Tumnus is the flanjaak? What kind of name is that?  _

_ Flanjaaks can eat almost anything without getting sick. Whether or not they’ll like it is a different thing entirely… they all have different tastes. The best course of action is to feed him small amounts of different things to find what he likes. _

_ -Evfra de Tershaav, An Annoyed Resistance General _

Cassiel giggled at the way he signed it, kind of a copy of how she signed her original message. Perhaps he had a sense of humor? Cassiel nudged Mr. Tumnus up, walking to the kitchen and rereading Evfra’s message. Flanjaaks were apparently just Andromedan goats, eating anything. At least Mr. Tumnus hadn’t started eating the ship yet. Mr. Tumnus sat next to the table as she opened different cabinets, looking for extra ration packets. Unable to find anything, Cassiel pondered for a moment.

“Drack!” she shouted, and giggled as she heard a  _ thud _ before the Krogan came bursting into the kitchen.

“What?” he asked, panting slightly, obviously thinking there had been some sort of emergency.

“Where are the extra ration packets?” she asked with a pout, pointing to the empty cabinet where they were supposed to be, and Drack laughed a bit.

“Getting hungry, squirt?” he asked, and Cassiel’s pout deepened.

“It’s not for me!” she whined, pointing at her new pet. “It’s for Mr. Tumnus,” Drack just chuckled, reaching on top of the cabinets where none of the human crew could reach and pulling a couple packets down.

“Why were they up there?” she asked as Drack handed them to her.

“Liam kept sneaking them,” he said, and Cassiel giggled.

“Thanks grumpy Grandpa!” she said, giving him a quick hug and then jumping out of range, rushing out before Drack could react.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, otherwise I would’ve spaced you a long time ago,” he called after her, and Cassiel shook her head, amused as she returned to the Pathfinder quarters with Mr. Tumnus in tow. As she ripped open one of the packets and set the contents down in front of Mr. Tumnus, SAM’s voice rang through the quarters.

“Cassiel, Jaal ama Darav is looking for you,” he said, and Cassiel nodded.

“Okay, send him down please,” she said as Mr. Tumnus sniffed the rations before turning his head away with a flinch. “Okay, not that one then,” she said, opening the next one only to get the same reaction. The doors opened just as Mr. Tumnus was beginning to munch on the third rations packet, Cassiel letting out a sigh of relief as she quickly looked at which ration it was, taking a mental note so she could be sure to order extra for her new pet the next time they restocked the kitchen.

“Ready for your tour?” she asked as she turned to Jaal, who had stopped just at the threshold to the room. The purple angara nodded and Cassiel gestured to the Pathfinder quarters. “So these are the Pathfinder quarters, which Colin and I share, however the crew often spends downtime in here with us,” she said. “You’re welcome to as well, but don’t feel pressured to, we want you to be comfortable, and if relaxing with the crew does that, great! But if not, don’t bother,” she chuckled, leading him to the galley as Jaal said nothing, just nodded curtly.

“This is the galley, I noticed there was a crate of nutrient paste you brought?” Jaal nodded again. “If they need to be refrigerated or anything, here’s the spot, we eat meals communally usually, or at least when we remember…” Cassiel scratched the back of her neck with an awkward laugh. “We have a rotating schedule of who cooks, some of the crew are more capable cooking than others, so sometimes we all just grab nutrient bars or rations packets,” she grimaced as she remembered the last time that had happened, a couple days ago when Liam and Gil decided to team up and almost ended up burning their clothing off. Cassiel exited the galley with Jaal following behind her.

“So you already saw the crews quarters, that’s the medbay,” she pointed to their left. “I’ll take you there last so Lexi, our ship’s doctor, can meet you,” she explained as Jaal tilted his head in curiosity, answering his silent question of why they weren’t going in.

“So this space is the Nomad bay, our ground vehicle,” she said when Jaal just gave her a blank face at the term “Nomad”. “And over here,” she led him to the right. “Is the space Liam has commandeered as his own,” the door opened and Liam waved at them from his (disgusting) couch, a beer in his hand.

“Cass, Jaal,” he greeted, and the pair nodded back.

“Hey Liam, just showing Jaal around,” she said by way of explanation, and Liam stood with a nod, setting his beer down on the coffee table.

“I’m Liam Kosta,” he introduced, sticking his hand out to shake the angara’s hand. Jaal simply stared at the gesture, confused. “Oh, human greeting, a handshake,” he explained, demonstrating with Cassiel before turning back to Jaal. The angara awkwardly took his hand and shook it before pulling away quickly. “Lookin’ forward to working with you, new guy,” he said, and Cassiel rolled her eyes as she left, gently nudging Jaal so he would follow.

“See ya,” she bade the brit goodbye as she brought Jaal over to Vetra’s space.

“This is where Vetra spends most of her time,” she said as the door opened, but it appeared that the turian wasn’t there. “She’s pretty cool, gets us whatever we need,” she explained with a shrug as she pressed the  **call** button for the lift. “She was a smuggler before Andromeda,” the lift came and Cassiel hopped on, Jaal stumbling a little when it rose. Cassiel held out a hand, not touching him, but there to steady him if he needed it.

“You alright?” she asked, and Jaal nodded.

“Angaran ships are not this… smooth,” he explained. “For take off and landing we always need to be strapped in, and even once we’re coasting we must always be aware,” Cassiel tilted her head. “I am just getting my bearings,” 

“A lot of Initiative ships are like that too, in fact Kallo, our pilot, he’s the one who came up with this gyro-something system…” she trailed off. “I can’t remember what it’s called and I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried, but I’m sure I could help the Initiative science officers figure out some sort of information sharing thing?” she paused in thought, telling herself to write Kesh about it later. The lift stopped, and Cassiel moved on with Jaal behind her.

“That’s where our engine core is, Gil tends to hide away in there, he’s our engineer,” she explained, not bothering to go in, just waving to Gil through the window. He didn’t even notice, as he was hunched over one of the panels fiddling with something. They went back to the main area of the Tempest, and Cassiel gestured around.

“This is our research station, you know the tech lab, obviously, that’s the plant lab, and up there is the vid con space where we had our meeting earlier,” she pointed to each location as she said its name, continuing on over the glass pathway, excited to show Jaal the bridge.

“Are we not going in the plant lab?” Jaal asked, and Cassiel flinched.

“Uh… no, that’s where Lieutenant Harper spends her time, and I don’t want to step on her toes anymore today,” she said, laughing nervously. Jaal gave her a nod.

“I will endeavor to not need to go in there, then,” he said resolutely, and Cassiel flinched again, eyes widening.

“You know, it’s not that she’s a bad person!” she rushed to remedy his outlook on Cora. “You shouldn’t form your opinion of her based on how she treats me,” she said, and Jaal shook his head.

“Her hostility would only serve as added tension,” he said, and Cassiel shrugged her shoulders slightly with a nod, unable to deny that Cora  _ was _ really hostile to him on their first meeting. “I can see why they sent you for first contact,” Jaal said with a slight smile, and Cassiel looked over at him in happy shock, the doors to the bridge sliding open.

“Jaal ama Darav, did you just make a joke?” she giggled, and the angara shrugged.

“Did I?” he smirked back at her, and the human shook her head.

“Anyways,” she raised her voice a bit to get them back on track. “This is the bridge! Kallo Jath over there is our pilot, a genius even for Salarian standards,” said pilot coughed, a dark purple hue coming to his cheeks. “You know it’s true Kallo, hush,” she chuckled as he simply “hmphed” and went back to piloting. “Over there is Dr. Suvi Anwar, our science officer, and general morale booster,” she threw an arm around the redheads shoulders, and the woman turned to greet their new crew member.

“Hello Jaal,” she greeted in her ever pleasant brogue. “Don’t listen to Cass, keeping everyone sane is her job,” that earned her a smack on the shoulder. Jaal smiled slightly at the woman as she sent a glare up to Cassiel. Turning, Cassiel led him back towards the doors. 

“That’s the escape pod, which Peebee has commandeered as her space, and that should be pretty telling,” she giggled. Peebee’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door Cassiel had gestured to.

“I heard that!”

“Am I wrong?” Cassiel shot back, and silence followed. “That’s what I thought,” they turned to the door opposite the escape pod.

“This is the loadout room, where teams usually get ready for missions,” she explained, sighing at the mess she saw. “Vetra likes to play with mods, so I’m assuming that’s why there are so many different pieces of guns and scopes and everything on the floor,” she said, and Jaal chuckled.

“I can identify with that,” he said, and Cassiel nodded. She led him back to the tech lab, giggling a bit when he jumped because of the lights dimming.

“What is that?” he asked. “Are we under attack?”

“No no, don’t worry,” Cassiel soothed, putting her arms up in a placating gesture. “It’s the Tempest simulating nighttime,” she explained, and Jaal nodded after a tense pause.

“Oh,”

“Goodnight Jaal,” Cassiel said, heading back to the Pathfinder quarters where she had left Mr. Tumnus.

“Goodnight,” he said back, and Cassiel shot him a smile over her shoulder.

“Now then!” she said as she walked into the quarters, and the newly adopted flanjaak looked happily up at her as he finished off the ration packet. “Litter training!” she moved Mr. Tumnus over to the litter box, prompting him to step in.

Eventually, after Colin had come in and the siblings had gotten ready for bed, Mr. Tumnus crawled up onto Cassiel’s bed once more.

“Night,” Cassiel said, her brother echoing her, and the human woman snuggled into the flanjaak as she drifted off.


	5. V: Lowkey Mom Friend

Cassiel woke with a grumble to SAM’s voice in their private channel.

“Cassiel, you asked me to remind you it’s your turn to cook breakfast today,” he said, and Cassiel nodded groggily as she sat up.

“Thanks, SAM,” she mumbled quietly, not wanting to disturb the still sleeping flanjaak next to her or her obnoxiously snoring brother across the room.

“Of course,” the AI responded as Cassiel stood up, his station glowing brighter for a moment before dimming back to normal. The girl quickly changed out of Colin’s old N7 sweatshirt and into normal clothes, which consisted of tight fitted pants and an Initiative issue t-shirt. 

Cassiel went into the galley, trying to be as quiet as possible knowing most of the crew was still asleep at this hour, and grabbed a bowl and a pack of the rations that Mr. Tumnus liked. She crept back into her quarters and set the bowl down at the foot of her bed, pouring the rations into it and going back to the kitchen. Mr. Tumnus blinked his eyes open as she did so, staring at her but making no move to get up.

“Morning sweetie,” she greeted, giving him a scritch on the head before returning to the galley. Quickly assessing what they had, she threw together some pancakes. Cassiel had to look for a bit though, despite knowing a dextro pancake recipe, she didn’t actually know where they kept the dextro ingredients. She was on the verge of calling for Drack when she finally found a bag of dextro flour.

“Yes!” she cheered quietly, making some pancakes for Vetra when Sam pinged her once again on their private channel.

“Cassiel, Mr. Tumnus has finished his food and is trying to get out,” he said, and Cassiel nodded.

“Can you open doors for him if I’m on the ship?” she asked.

“Affirmative,” and almost immediately the doors were opening and Mr. Tumnus was running to her. Cassiel was glad that she wasn’t carrying anything at the moment because Mr. Tumnus launched himself so his forepaws… forehooves were resting on her shoulders.

“Hello to you too Mr. Tumnus,” she greeted, melted at the flanjaak’s version of a hug before gently pushing him off her. She fished around in a cabinet for a nutrient bar and broke a piece off.

“I guess we should get started on your training, huh?” she asked, and began trying to teach the flanjaak how to sit. Surprisingly, he caught on rather quickly, and before the rest of the crew woke up to eat breakfast, he had the command down.

Cassiel also got the crate of nutrient paste that Jaal had left in the vidcon space yesterday, placing the contents in one of the cabinets in the galley.

Soon everyone was packed in the galley shovelling pancakes in their mouths. 

“DEXTRO PANCAKES?” Vetra had shouted upon coming in, giving Cassiel a big hug.

“You’re the best, Cass,” she said, and Cassiel had giggled before continuing to eat her own pancakes. The short woman did a quick headcount as she put her dishes in the sink, it was Liam’s turn for dishes anyway. There were four members missing: Gil, Suvi, Kallo, and Jaal. 

“SAM, when was the last time the missing members ate?” she asked.

“Ms. Anwar has been eating regularly, Mr. Brodie skipped dinner yesterday to continue repairs on the ship, Mr. Jath has neglected to eat for close to 48 hours, and Mr. ama Darav’s status is unknown, though he has not eaten since coming onto the Tempest,” SAM answered, and Cassiel scowled as she climbed the ladder to the bridge, muttering a ‘be right back’ to Colin on the way. She marched over to the ship wide intercom and quickly flipped it on.

“I EXPECT EVERYONE IN THE MESS IN FIVE MINUTES! GIL I DON’T CARE WHAT EXCUSE YOU COME UP WITH YOU ARE EATING BREAKFAST!” she shouted into it before softening her tone. “Jaal, hun, come down when you’re ready, I set aside some pancakes for you to try, otherwise there’s some nutrient paste in the cabinet above the stove,” with that Cassiel flicked off the intercom and turned to raise her eyebrows at Kallo.

“But-” he began to protest, but was quickly cut off.

“The ships on autopilot,” Cassiel said, pointing to the doors, and Kallo pouted as he got up and went to the galley. Cassiel rolled her eyes as she turned to Suvi.

“Children, I work with children,” she muttered. “Suvi, sweetie, I know you really wanna finish that paper but can you go eat breakfast?” she said gently, knowing despite the Scot being pretty good at taking care of herself, she was apt to getting caught up in her work, as academics do. Suvi nodded as she stood up, and the two women went back to the galley. Cassiel rolled her eyes at the scowl on Gil’s face as he grabbed a plate and started shovelling pancakes into his mouth.

“I need to work on the Nomad,” he muttered grumpily, and Cassiel rolled her eyes.

“Leave the Nomad to me,” she said, and Gil’s eyebrows raised.

“Are you even qualified?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded with a smirk, seeing Jaal walk in as she answered Gil.

“I raced back in the Milky Way for extra money, I know my way around cars,” many of the crew’s jaws dropped hearing that tidbit of information.

“Really?” Liam gasped.

“Oh yeah, she was killer on F2 tracks,” Colin spoke up, and Gil and Liam’s eyes both widened comically.

“F2?!” they said, and Cassiel just smirked as she turned to Jaal.

“Morning,” she greeted, grabbing the plate she had set aside for him.

“What are these… pancakes?” Jaal asked, and Cassiel handed him the plate.

“These!” she said. “Don’t worry, I made sure all the ingredients are safe for you to eat, though I have no idea how it’ll taste for you…” she trailed off with a shy smile. “But it’s worth a try, right?” she asked, prompting him to take a bite. Jaal nodded as he took a small bite, grimacing a little as he forced it down.

“They are…” he paused, as if trying to find a non offensive word. “Bland,” he finally settled on, and Liam guffawed, ignoring Cassiel’s glare.

“Are your taste buds dead, mate?” he challenged. “These are the sweetest pancakes I’ve ever had!” he said, almost choking on the bite he took when Cassiel slapped him on the back of the head.

“Be nice, stupid,” she growled. “His physiology is different than ours!” she reminded him, and Liam shrugged as he went back to eating. Cassiel turned back to Jaal.

“Well, we gave it a try,” she shrugged, before pointing to the cabinet she had mentioned earlier. “The nutrient paste is over there,” Jaal smiled back as he grabbed a tube.

“Oh yeah! That reminds me!” Cassiel gasped, and Jaal raised a brow ridge as he waited for her to finish. “We didn’t get to see Lexi today, so can you check in after breakfast?” the angara nodded as everyone got back to eating breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone doesn’t get it, F2 is a play off F1 which is a major racing thing, I’ve always joked if nothing else pans out I’ll just be an F1 driver


	6. VI: Frustrating the General

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's see how Evfra's doing, shall we?

Evfra was anxiously awaiting the report of his right hand man and-dare he say it-best friend, Jaal. He was trying not to let his agitation show, sitting hunched at his desk and fighting the urge to pace, but he couldn’t stop it from bleeding into his field. Without Jaal around, Resistance members kept their distance from their leader, not wanting to be on the receiving end of any potential outburst. 

A palpable wave of relief swept through the room when Evfra’s agitation faded from his field, the man picking up his datapad after it pinged and seeing there was a message from Jaal.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Jaal ama Darav _

_ Subject: First Report from Tempest _

_ Evfra, I am dubious about most of the aliens here. I have provided descriptions of each race present on the ship and the crew members of each race. Cassiel was kind enough to give me a basic version of each members file. _

_ The ‘humans’ seem to take the leadership role, though I can’t see any distinctive features that would put them ahead of the others. They are definitely not the most threatening in combat, nor are they the most intelligent, they are also not the longest lived. Cassiel informed me that humans live between 90-150 years. They are shorter in stature than the Angara, however Cassiel, the woman who you met with on Aya, appears to be much shorter than the average human. The other humans are around 5 ½ - 6 feet tall. _

_ -Cassiel Ryder, Female, 20 years old, 5 foot 1 inch. She seems to lack combat training, and is more on the ship for diplomatic reasons from what I have gathered. Her brother is also the Pathfinder, the leader on the ship. She has named the flanjaak ‘Mr. Tumnus’, which is apparently a reference to a book she enjoys. She is the most welcoming and kind of the aliens, and takes on a role of social leadership.  _

_ -Colin Ryder, Male, 23 years old, 6 feet. He is the Pathfinder, and Cassiel’s older brother. He apparently inherited his position from his and Cassiel’s father, who died upon coming to Helius. He seems to struggle with demanding respect from his subordinates, but he does still care for his crew and does what he believes to be best for it. _

_ -Liam Kosta, Male, 25 years old, 6 feet. Liam is a member of the ground team, trained in combat. From what I’ve observed he can be quite abrasive. So far most of the offense has been unintentional, but I will keep you updated.  _

_ -Gil Brodie, Male, 28 years old, 5 foot 11 inches. I haven’t actually met him yet, Cassiel has informed me he spends the majority of his time in the engine room. He is the ship’s engineer. _

_ -Suvi Anwar, Female, 21 years old, 5 foot 3 inches. Suvi is co-pilot on the ship and a kindly woman as far as I can tell. She is a bit odd… in the way scientists can be.  _

_ -Cora Harper, Female, 26 years old, 5 foot 6 inches. By far the most unpleasant on the ship. Not only did she rudely question my presence to Cassiel, but she is also openly hostile towards her. Cassiel has informed me that Lieutenant Harper is more hostile toward her than most out of bitterness, however I am planning to make it a habit to interact with her as little as possible. _

_ Asari are among the oldest species in terms of life span. They live over 1000 years. Their species has no concept of gender, and they all appear to be female. Asari appear to be built like a human female with the exception of their skin color and heads. As opposed to the hair that humans have they seem to have flaps folding back over their heads, and they are all a dark blue. Both Asari and human females seem to have breasts even when not nursing. Cassiel seemed flustered when I asked her about this, apparently they are also sexual? _

_ -Lexi T’Perro, 275 years old, 5 foot 6 inches. Lexi is the ship’s doctor, and a bit overzealous when it comes to research. They seem kind, and appears to have taken on a maternal role with Cassiel.  _

_ -Pelessaria (Peebee) B’Sayle, 120 years old, 5 foot 5 inches. Peebee is a detached member of the ground crew. They have prided themself on “keeping their options open” in terms of their residence on the Tempest. They spend a lot of time studying various remnant devices that they have found.  _

_ Turians are similar to Angara in height, and are covered in rough plating all over their bodies. Cassiel has told me it was an evolutionary trait due to the radiation and heat on their home planet. They live 100-140 years. _

_ -Vetra Nyx, Female, 32 years old, 6 foot 3 inches. Vetra is a member of the ground team. She also apparently acquires equipment or materials the crew needs or wants. I have been informed that before coming to Andromeda she worked as a smuggler, and has a lot of connections.  _

_ Salarians are similar to Angara in height and skin, however their heads are shaped very differently and they are much thinner. They are the most intelligent and quick thinking of the initiative species, though also the most short lived, living only 40-50 years.  _

_ -Kallo Jath, Male, 19 years old, 6 foot 2 inches. Kallo is the Tempest pilot, and apparently worked on the team who originally designed and built it in the Milky Way. I have yet to talk to him extensively.  _

_ Krogan are the most formidable. They are rough looking and stand around 7 feet tall. There was apparently dissent among the initiative species where the krogan left the others due to not being treated fairly. Cassiel has told me that one of the directors of the Initiative, a “slimy politician named Tann”, has a personal vendetta against the krogan. _

_ -Drack, Male, 1,500 years old, 7 feet. Drack laughs a lot, seemingly in non-comedic situations. He enjoys fighting, specifically killing Kett, as he told me. He also cooks dinner on most nights on the Tempest. Cassiel warned to be wary of “Drack surprise” as she put it.  _

_ I will keep you updated with regular reports. At the moment we are on course to Havarl. _

**_[Jaal ama Darav has attached 10 images]_ **

Evfra couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes at how many times his operative mentioned the human he had met-Cassiel Ryder. Jaal was too trusting sometimes, and it was obvious he was already pretty comfortable with the small woman. Evfra wasn’t sure how he felt about finding out she was actually tiny even for her species, it didn’t sit right with him that the aliens had sent the smallest of them out into a potentially hostile alien city-and with no combat training!

Shifting slightly in irritation, the Resistance General opened the images Jaal had included. They appeared to be pictures of the members of the Tempest crew, most images taken discreetly from Jaal’s visor. The humans all had hair like Cassiel’s, though in different colors, and Evfra’s eyes widened when he saw the picture of what he assumed was the krogan-Drack. Formidable indeed, the alien’s appearance and stature was so intimidating that Evfra almost found himself worrying for his friend’s safety-not that he would ever admit it. 

The General froze when he swiped to the picture of Cassiel. She had one arm around the flanjaak-whom she had apparently named Mr. Tumnus, and one of her hands was held up with her palm facing out and two fingers sticking up in an odd pose. She was smiling brightly, and it was clear that she knew her picture was being taken, Jaal had probably either asked her or just told her. She was-cute… in an odd way that Evfra did not want to think about.

The next picture also had Cassiel, with her arms around a female human with red hair, longer than the other humans’ on the ship. Cassiel was standing behind the woman, and both were laughing, and Evfra couldn’t stop his field from reacting to the adorableness of the photo, a burst of unsure affection coming out at Cassiel’s crinkled eyes and beaming smile before he was able to reign it in. Evfra deliberately ignored the curious fields of other Resistance members and the teasing looks he received, his scowl taking on a slightly pouty look.

_ Damn field, I’m not some out of control adolescent _ . He grumbled in his head, scowl deepening even further.  _ She’s an alien _ . Was another thought, ringing loud in his head, helping him to squash the affection. Though, it did nothing to stop him from opening the picture of the girl and her flanjaak and subtly saving it to his tool. His scowl faded and morphed into a smirk as he remembered her earlier frantic email about Mr. Tumnus and what he ate. Her panic had been amusing, but dangerous. It was admittedly quite difficult to just use the mantra that  _ she’s an alien. She’s an alien. She’s an alien!  _ when tampering his affection for the girl down. It was unreasonable-he’d barely interacted with her for 5 minutes.

When Evfra looked up, his scowl was quickly back on his face once he saw many of the angara around Resistance HQ staring at him.

“Back to work!” he barked, and their eyes were all quickly averted to whatever datapad or task they  _ had _ been on before Evfra’s field had a minor freak out.

The next morning, Evfra had just woken up when he received another message from Jaal.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Jaal ama Darav _

_ Subject: Cassiel Ryder _

He jolted in surprise when his eyes scanned over the subject matter, and he could barely stop himself from falling out of his bed, a hand shooting out to slam on his bedside table, steadying him and pushing himself up into a sitting position.

_ Cassiel is very kind. This morning she made the crew breakfast and left some aside for me. The breakfast was bland and I told her such, and when Liam confronted me, apparently the breakfast is very sweet to the initiative species, she confronted him right back. She wasn’t offended at all and got out some nutrient paste for me. She also made sure every crew member ate. That’s actually how I woke up, she was speaking over the comm system yelling at Gil and Kallo to get breakfast. She was much kinder when she told me.  _

_ She is also apparently full of surprises. This morning at breakfast she told Gil that she raced ground vehicles for sport back in the Milky Way, and earned money for it! She actually just went to work on the Nomad, the Tempest ground vehicle, and left Mr. Tumnus in my charge. She was concerned that he would get caught in something. _

_ PS: You would like Cassiel, I think, though it would be hard not to, especially with how your field reacted to her yesterday… _

_ -Jaal ama Darav _

Evfra’s jaw clenched as he read the end of Jaal’s message, even on a ship in another sol system at this point, his best friend was teasing him. It really was like he was a teenager all over again, people being able to tell whatever was on his mind just by his field.

“Damn him!” Evfra growled to himself, raising out of bed and throwing on his day wear, ready to throw himself into the Resistance and forget that he was a person, like he always did when he had a problem.


	7. VII: Cora's a Meanie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cora's got it out for the youngest Ryder sibling, but Cassiel has a good group of friends to support her.

Cassiel was squatting to place the front left tire back on the Nomad when Jaal came into the bay. The angara had asked SAM where he could find Cassiel when Mr. Tumnus began to get antsy, the flanjaak had been left in his care while Cassiel worked on the Nomad and clearly the six legged animal was missing his human. Jaal had left him with Suvi while he went to get Cassiel.

“How do your legs do that?” he asked incredulously, referring to the way Cassiel was bent in a very low squat.

“It’s just how they’re built,” she giggled, straightening up and grabbing a rag to wipe her hands. Jaal nodded, still staring at her knees that had straightened out now, even the way she stood looked unnatural to him. Cassiel briefly considered dropping into a split just to  _ really _ freak him out, but she decided against it.

“You’ve been working for 5 hours,” he moved on from her legs, brow ridge pinching in curiosity. “Is there something urgent?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded.

“I need to finish the steering mechanism before we get to Havarl, the tires are only turning a quarter of what they should be in relation to the steering wheel,” she sighed, sending a pointed glare at the tire she had just replaced. She had needed to fix the axle, where a rock from Eos had jammed against the rod. She tilted her head upon seeing Jaal’s puzzled look. “What?” she asked, and Jaal sighed.

“You won’t be able to drive on Havarl,” he said hesitantly, guilty that she had been working for 5 hours straight over something that wouldn’t even be used for likely a week.

“WHAT?” Cassiel shouted, her head snapping to glare at the Nomad and then back to Jaal, her face softening to try to make it clear that she wasn’t upset with  _ him _ . Jaal still cringed.

“The area is too dense with vegetation,” he explained. “The only transportation we have on Havarl is air transport,” Cassiel groaned.

“So I won’t be needed on the ground team?” she asked, and Jaal’s head tilted in confusion.

“You’re only on the ground team when the Nomad is needed?” he asked. Cassiel nodded.

“Well, yeah,” she giggled awkwardly. “I’m not really trained past basic hand-to-hand combat, so Colin really only needs me to drive him around,”

“Can he not drive?” Jaal asked, and Cassiel snorted.

“ _ Technically _ he can drive,” she said, beginning to laugh. “But you never want to have him behind the wheel,” Jaal’s face remained blank, obviously not totally understanding what Cassiel was saying. “When I was 16 and had just gotten the documentation needed to drive on Earth, our home planet, he tried to drive us somewhere and we almost died, he is  _ total shit _ at driving,” she explained. “I had to drive us home,” Jaal nodded, trying to mask the smile that had threatened to overtake his face. Cassiel suddenly froze, looking around and standing on her tiptoes to check behind Jaal. “Where’s Mr. Tumnus?” she asked, voice tinged with slight panic.

“I left him with Dr. Anwar,” Jaal answered with a chuckle, finding the small human’s concern for her pet endearing. Said human cringed slightly.

“Let’s go get him,” she said, briskly marching to the bridge with Jaal in tow. The angara had a puzzled look on his face, unsure why Cassiel was in such a hurry. He had his answer, however, when they got to the bridge. Suvi was kneeling in front of Mr. Tumnus, the flanjaak looking absolutely miserable as she finished tying a bow on his head. Suvi was giggling softly, but her jovial mood was obviously not shared by him. The ribbon pressed awkwardly against his horns and was over one of his ears causing it to awkwardly flatten against his head.

“Suvi!” Cassiel called, the scot turning and beaming at Cassiel. Mr. Tumnus perked up at seeing her, quickly squirming away from The Tempest’s science officer and running to brush against Cassiel’s legs. Cassiel’s hands immediately undid the ribbon, rubbing his head affectionately as she placed a kiss between his horns. “Where did you even get the ribbon?” she asked.

“Vetra had it lying around,” Suvi answered, pouting slightly at the ribbon no longer being around his head. Cassiel wrapped her arms around the flanjaak, who snuggled into her chest.

“I love you, but seriously, did you not notice how miserable he looked?” Cassiel grumbled, and Suvi pouted.

“I tried to tell her that,” Kallo spoke from his seat, and Cassiel sent him a grateful look, despite his warning obviously not working.

“But he looked so cute!” Jaal was just watching the exchange in slight wonder but incredible amusement. 

“That’s no excuse!” Cassiel’s voice raised slightly, but it cracked at the end when she noticed Suvi’s guilty pout. Cassiel sighed. “Let’s put it around his neck, okay? Like a collar,” she compromised, and Suvi’s smile returned. Cassiel gently secured the ribbon around Mr. Tumnus’ neck, and her lips quirked into a slight smile as Mr. Tumnus wagged his tail slightly.

“He likes it that way,” Jaal said, feeling the waves of prideful bioelectricity emanating from the animal.

“Yeah, it would appear so,” Cassiel agreed, and Mr. Tumnus sat with his face morphing into an expression that was as close to a smile as he could get. The mood soured almost instantly, however, when the doors to the bridge slid open and Cora walked in. Her eyes narrowed when they came to rest upon Cassiel.

“Glad to see you’re working on the Nomad,” she said, voice filled with aggressive sarcasm. Cassiel flinched back, her shoulders hunching as she visibly deflated.

“I was just taking a break,” she murmured, Suvi and Kallo sensing the mood and returning to staring at the displays in front of them. “Since it’s not urgent,” Cassiel continued, and Cora bristled, her glare hardening further.

“Not urgent?” she barked, and Cassiel appeared even smaller as she hunched in on herself, Jaal watching with a sad expression. 

“Jaal, do you mind telling Cora what you told me?” she asked, not making eye contact with anyone as she shuffled past Cora to exit the bridge. Mr. Tumnus tried to follow but Cassiel held her hand out. “Stay with Jaal, Mr. Tumnus,” she commanded, and Mr. Tumnus whimpered but dutifully returned to the angara’s side. Jaal’s eyes narrowed into slits when the door slid closed behind Cassiel and Cora turned to him for an explanation.

“It is literally  _ impossible _ to drive a ground vehicle on Havarl, Lieutenant Harper,” he growled curtly, storming past the blond with Mr. Tumnus in tow as he returned to the engineering lab. The others on the bridge could actually feel his agitated field, though they were unable to identify the tingling sensations on their skin as the angara left. Cora just rolled her eyes, following after him and going to find Colin.

A little later, Cassiel was back to working on the Nomad, sitting on a box as she screwed on a fastener for one of the tires. She dutifully ignored her now grumbling stomach and traitorous feelings, both of which were threatening to crush her spirits completely.

“CASSIEL MIRA RYDER!” Lexi’s voice suddenly cut through the silence, startling the poor human so much that she fell off the box she had been using as a seat. She just sat sprawled on the floor for a minute in shock before glancing up at the asari doctor.

“Hi?”

“Why are you still working?” they demanded, arms crossed and a scowl etched on their face. “It’s been seven hours!” Cassiel pouted slightly, returning to the box and picking up another fastener.

“I took a half hour break,” she mumbled, and Lexi growled in annoyance.

“That doesn’t count!” they shot back, snatching the fastener and wrench out of Cassiel’s grip and placing them back down on the work table. “Why are you still working?” they demanded once more, and Cassiel just averted her eyes, scratching her arm in a nervous tick.

“Cora told me we needed this steering mechanism fixed before we got to Havarl, and she said we’d be arriving…” Cassiel checked her omnitool. “In an hour?” Lexi’s eyes widened at the lie, their arrival time not being for another seven hours. “Then Jaal told me you can’t drive a ground vehicle on Havarl, but Cora still wants it done, and she’s…” Cassiel traield off, obviously looking for a word that wasn’t offensive. “Intimidating, so I figured I’d just oblige her,” Lexi growled at the story, turning from Cassiel and pacing around the Nomad’s bay.

“This is ridiculous!” they exclaimed, rounding on Cassiel, and the human flinched slightly. “First her snide comments, and now she’s overworking you and  _ lying _ to you about our arrival time?” Cassiel’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean, lying?” she asked, and Lexi sighed.

“We have another seven hours before we reach Havarl,” they told her, and Cassiel just cringed, her gaze downcast. “Ridiculous, she deserves-” Cassiel cut her off.

“No!” Lexi’s gaze snapped to meet the human’s worried one. “It’s fine, I mean she doesn’t like me, but I can handle it,” Cassiel soothed, Lexi’s stern gaze unflinching. “I’ll just keep my distance,” she said, and Lexi let out an agitated puff of breath through their nose.

“What about when she’s on the ground team and you’re driving?” they challenged, and Cassiel shrugged nonchalantly, trying to show Lexi that it wasn’t a big problem, despite it being an endless source of anxiety for the human.

“Easy, she sits in the back seat,” she said, and Lexi sighed, hand shooting out and wrapping around Cassiel’s wrist.

“Come on, up!” they demanded, and Cassiel squawked indignantly when they began dragging her to the galley. “You need to eat something!” they said sternly, and Cassiel groaned.

“Lexi, I’m fine!” she said, yanking on her wrist, but the asari’s grip remained firm. 

“SAM, how long has it been since Cassiel last ate?” Lexi asked, Cassiel’s eyes narrowing. Using her own tricks against her wasn’t fair…

“Around 13 hours, Dr. T’Perro,” SAM answered.

“Traitor,” Cassiel muttered, but shut up when Lexi shot her a look over their shoulder.

“I only have your best interests in mind, Cassiel,” SAM defended himself, something that sounded an awful lot like amusement trickling into his tone. Cassiel just rolled her eyes as Lexi sat her down in the kitchen.

“Please ask Jaal and Drack to join us in the galley,” Lexi requested, SAM confirming their request as Cassiel just stared at them in confusion.

“What?” she asked, and Lexi shot her another one of their famous  _ shut up _ looks as they put a kettle on the stove, rummaging through the cabinets for some tea bags.

Jaal soon came in with Mr. Tumnus, and it was as if the flanjaak could sense her mood, immediately going in for snuggles. He sat on the floor and rested his head in Cassiel’s lap, her hand unconsciously stroking through his green fur. Jaal sat in a chair next to her, glancing between the other two in the room.

“You’re upset,” he said eventually, not a question, just a simple observation. Cassiel shrugged her shoulders, still trying not to betray how hurt she was.

“I guess,” she confirmed, and tensed when Jaal wrapped a long muscled arm around her shoulders. Jaal looked down at her with a reassuring gaze, and Cassiel sighed, relaxing into his shoulder.  _ Never pass up on an opportunity for snuggles… _

Drack came in then, looking around at everyone.

“What’s with the pow-wow?” he asked, leaning against the fridge, and Lexi quickly filled him in on the situation and Cora’s mistreatment. The krogan obviously didn’t like what he was hearing, his face getting angrier throughout Lexi’s explanation.

“I’ll rip her arms off,” he said when Lexi was done, and Cassiel gasped slightly as Lexi just smirked and shook their head.

“It’s fine, grumpy,” Cassiel spoke when Lexi said nothing to dissuade the irate krogan. Drack heaved out a large, disappointed sigh.

“One arm?” he asked, and Cassiel giggled softly, feeling Jaal’s shoulder shake slightly in amusement.

“No,” she sighed, eyes closing for a brief moment.

“Awe, you’re no fun, kid,” Drack whined, or at least in as much of a whine as a 1500 year old krogan could voice. Cassiel stood then, patting Jaal’s arm as a nonverbal thanks for the comfort, and dragged her chair over to step on it so she could grab some rations for Mr. Tumnus.

“Do you guys want dinner?” she asked, and Lexi and Drack hummed their affirmative as Mr. Tumnus began to munch on the rations she had dumped into a bowl. Cassiel turned to Jaal, but the angara shook his head.

“I will stick to nutrient paste, thank you,” he said, and Cassiel smiled excitedly.

“Actually, I figured out why the pancakes taste bland to you!” she said, nudging Drack out of the way so she could rummage through the fridge. “Milky Way foods use a certain family of spice that Angara can’t taste, so I found a couple recipes that don’t need it!” she pulled out the ingredients she needed, plunking them on the table, and Jaal gave her a slight smile back.

“Alright,” he agreed, and Cassiel beamed as she got to work. Lexi passed her the tea they had made and soon enough everyone was sitting at the galley table munching on some grilled cheese. Cassiel couldn’t contain her giggles at the moans Jaal let out as he ate it, the food quickly becoming one of his new favorites. Who would’ve thought?


	8. VIII: Oh Look! Havarl!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tempest arrives on havarl

“Beginning descent,” the crew of the Tempest heard Kallo announce through the comms. Colin was picking the ground team, or rather who would be accompanying him besides Jaal to Daar Pelaav. 

“Cassiel, you should come meet the scientists,” he said, and his little sister nodded and went to gear up, ignoring Cora’s scoff.

“Really?” she asked, voice hard, and Colin just nodded at his second in command, not wanting to deal with her childish vendetta against his sister.

“Drack, you up for this?” Colin asked, ignoring Cora’s eyes widening in disbelief, the woman obviously having thought she would be on the ground team.

“Always, Ryder,” the grizzled krogan warrior responded with a chuckle, turning away and going to grab his weapons.

Soon enough Colin, Jaal, Drack, and Cassiel were disembarking the Tempest, and the Milky Way migrants were gaping in awe at the flora around them.

“It’s beautiful!” Cassiel gasped, and Jaal hummed in agreement.

“Yes, it is,” he said as he began to lead the way to Daar Pelaav, where the scientists were expecting them.

“Are those mushrooms… glowing?” Colin asked in awe, and Jaal nodded.

“Yes, if you find yourself coming into contact with one, wash yourself, immediately,” he warned, and Cassiel and Colin exchanged a look, Cassiel giggling slightly.

“Suvi,” she called as she opened a comm to the Tempest.

“Yes?” the Scot responded.

“If you get permission to come out here, do  _ not _ do the lick test!” Cassiel laughed a bit as she heard Suvi’s disappointed  _ awe! _ in her earpiece. She gulped as the rest of the team used their jump jets to get across a missing part of the bridge, her not having really been trained to use them. With a running start, Cassiel was thankful that SAM initiated her jump jets for her, because she really had no idea how to get them going. She safely landed on the other side as Jaal was giving her a puzzled look.

“Lick… test?” Jaal questioned, slowing so he was walking next to Cassiel. Cassiel snorted, looking to her brother to explain it as she giggled.

“Suvi has this idea in her head that she can find out what a rock is by licking it,” Colin explained to him, and laughed at the disgusted look on his face.

“It’s not an idea!” Suvi chimed. “I know it’s a real thing!”

“Sure, Suvi,” Cassiel rolled her eyes light heartedly at their eccentric science officer. She gave Jaal a look, prompting him to stifle a chuckle that bubbled up from his throat. Drack laughed loudly, and Cassiel turned to him in question, not thinking that what she said was  _ that _ funny.

“I just had an idea for a prank, kid,” he said, and Cassiel beamed at him.

“We’ll talk later,” she promised, doing cheesy finger guns at the krogan as the team finally approached the doors to the main building of Daar Pelaav. He chuckled a bit before the team went silent as the doors slid open with a  _ hiss _ .

The doors opened to reveal a couple angara looking at various devices, and a purple female angara who was even taller than Jaal standing in front of the doorway with her arms crossed. Her face looked even more intense with the white facial markings.

“So this is them?” she asked Jaal. “The ones from the other galaxy?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, and she uncrossed her arms to assess the ground party. Jaal turned to Cassiel, introducing her first. “Cassiel, Kiiran Dals, lead scientist at Daar Pelaav,” Cassiel smiled widely at Kiiran.

“Cassiel Ryder, with the Andromeda initiative,” she introduced, stopping herself from raising her arm for a handshake, not wanting to repeat the awkwardness of teaching Jaal. Kiiran just nodded. Jaal cleared his throat.

“Where’s the rest of the team?” he asked. “Ryder, the Pathfinder, has experience with Remnant, we might be able to help their investigations,” he suggested, and Kiiran sucked in a breath of surprise.

“You haven’t heard?” she asked in shock. “While the team was exploring the monolith, something went terribly wrong! They were caught in some kind of Remnant stasis field. Frozen in place. Unresponsive,” she explained, and Cassiels brows pinched together in concern.

“I know how to work Remnant tech,” Colin piped up. “I can help you!” he was eager to prove himself, and Cassiel nodded along with him.

“Ryder has seen a vault and apparently reset it. Somehow,” Jaal vouched for him, and Cassiel giggled with how skeptical he sounded doing so.

“Ocean of fish, one will have gems in its mouth.” Kiiran said, and Cassiel assumed it was some Angaran proverb. “But if you think the alien can help, I’ll set the skepticism aside,” she acquiesced, and Cassiel and Colin grinned. “The monolith isn’t far from here. See what you can do, but be careful. We don’t know what triggered the stasis, and it may happen again,” she cautioned, and Colin nodded.

“Of course!” he turned and walked back out the door, Jaal and Drack trailing him. “We’ll be back with your missing scientists!” he called as the doors slid shut behind him, and Kiiran turned to look quizzically at Cassiel.

“You’re not going with your team?” she asked, and Cassiel shook her head.

“I’m not really a part of the ground team, but if I can be helpful here please let me know!” she beamed at Kiiran, who nodded after a moment, staying silent and turning to a nearby green angara. The pair exchanged glances, and Cassiel felt that she was once again witnessing an interaction of bioelectricity. Jaal had explained a little bit to her, and while Cassiel thought it was really cool that they could communicate that way, it was a little off putting to have no idea what they were “talking” about, if anything.

Cassiel’s comm beeped, and she tapped her omnitool to patch it through.

“Cassiel,” Lexi’s voice came through. “Mr. Tumnus is getting antsy, what should we do about it?” she asked, and Cassiel sighed.

“Give me a sec, Lexi,” she prompted, closing the channel and turning to Kiiran. “Do you mind if my flanjaak joins me?” she asked, and Kiiran’s eyes widened in surprise. There was a moment of awkward staring before the tall angara finally nodded. “Thank you!” she beamed, turning and walking briskly out the door, tapping her omnitool to open the comms again. “I’m on my way, just let him off the Tempest and I’ll get him,” she said.

“Alright, I’ll let him out in a couple minutes,” Lexi confirmed, and Cassiel closed the channel once more.

“Keep your comms on, Cass, be careful,” Colin said, and Cassiel hummed in affirmative.

Cassiel stumbled her way over the half constructed bridge and soon found herself almost right outside the Tempest. She stumbled over a vine she didn’t see, and froze when she heard some shuffling in the foliage. She squinted her eyes as she saw a sort of shimmer near where the sound was, before the shimmer disappeared to be replaced with a green reptile with spikes on its back.

“AH!” Cassiel let out a shout as it pounced on her, the creature pinning her as she shot her arms up to keep its mouth away from her. 

“Cassiel?!” Colin’s voice came through the comms. Scrambling, Cassiel tried to buck teh creature off her, only succeeding in shifting it a little down her body. Letting out a grunt, Cassiel flung her arm down to her thigh holster, grabbing a knife she kept there that was more for fighting against humans, not reptile creatures, and shoving it through the creature's skull with a shout.

Cassiel shoved the creature off her with a grunt of effort, staying laying on the ground for a moment as she gasped to catch her breath.

“Cassiel!” Colin called again. “What’s going on?! Are you okay?” he demanded, and Cassiel gasped again before speaking.

“I’m fine,” she breathed. “A giant lizard thing just came out of nowhere and pinned me,” she explained, and heard Jaal gasp.

“A challyrion?” he asked, and Cassiel was quick to scan the animal’s carcass. 

“Yeah,” she confirmed as the creature’s information popped up on her omnitool. Colin sighed.

“Just hurry up and get back to Daar Pelaav,” he demanded, and Cassiel hummed to confirm she heard him. As if on cue, Mr. Tumnus came running down the ramp and barrelled into Cassiel’s chest, rubbing against her and sniffing her in concern. Cassiel giggled, scratching the top of his head before leading him around the bridge, this time being sure to keep her head on a swivel looking for any more things that would mean to do them harm.

As Cassiel walked through the doors of Daar Pelaav with Mr. Tumnus by her side, Kiiran and a blue angara rushed up to her, looking worriedly at the green blood that had splattered on Cassiels face.

“What happened?” the blue angara asked, grabbing her chin to tilt her head up so he could examine the blood closer.

“It’s alright!” Cassiel was quick to sooth. “I was pinned by a chall-challyrion,” she stuttered over the name of the creature, it sounding weird on her tongue like how “Milky Way” sounded wrong on Jaal’s. The angara crowding her, which had grown from the blue angara and Kiiran to a group of five or six, looked unconvinced that she was okay. That is until Mr. Tumnus leaned to hard on Cassiel, sending the pair tumbling onto the ground. A round of gasps sounded, but Cassiel just began giggling maniacally. The angara surrounding her laughed as most of them dispersed, and the blue angara stuck out a hand to help Cassiel up.

“How did you come to be bonded to a flanjaak?” he asked, and Cassiel smiled at him as she rubbed Mr. Tumnus’ flank.

“It’s kind of a boring story,” she dismissed, but the angara shook his head.

“Well then you’ll just have to make it sound interesting, little alien,” he goaded, sitting on a chair, and Cassiel sighed heavily, hopping up to sit on a desk in front of the chair.

“I’m not little!” she grumbled, crossing her arms. “And my name is Cassiel! Not alien,”

“And I am Aarvos,” he introduced, placing a hand on his chest and nodding his head in what Cassiel assumed was an angaran greeting. “Now, how did you bond with this flanjaak?” he asked again, Mr. Tumnus sitting by his feet as he reached over to pat him.

“Well we kind of landed on Aya on fire, and then as Paaran Shie was bringing me to meet Evfra Mr. Tumnus just came up to me and started to follow me-”

“Mr. Tumnus?” Aarvos asked, and Cassiel giggled.

“The flanjaak,” she explained. “I named him after one of my favorite characters in a book series,” Aarvos nodded in understanding.

“Ah,” he said. “Please continue,” he waved a hand at her, and she giggled.

“So this guy here-” she paused to scritch behind a horn. “Was so adorable that I kind of forgot I was supposed to be serious, so I just squatted down right in front of Evfra and gave him some love,” Aarvos snorted in amusement. “And Evfra was nice enough to let me take him with us when we left Aya,”

“That is probably the first time I have heard Evfra described as ‘nice’,” Aarvos laughed, and Cassiel giggled with a shrug.

“He didn’t seem too bad,” she said, and Aarvos’ eyes widened as she shook his head.

“No! He’s not bad!” he was quick to clarify. “He is a remarkable leader, but his bedside manner leaves… much to be desired,” he explained, and Cassiel giggled.

“Oh,” she said simply. “That, I can see,” she agreed. 

Soon enough most of the angara in the lab had abandoned whatever devices they were looking at, and were gathered around Cassiel asking her a bunch of questions.


	9. IX: Angara Magnet?

Colin, Jaal, and Drack eventually returned to Daar Pelaav with the missing three scientists in tow, as promised. Kiiran was quick to rush over and assist the three previously stasis-bound scientists to a mini med center in a nearby building, and Colin’s head swiveled around in search of his little sister.

“Where’s Cassiel?” he asked, and Jaal and Drack both shrugged. Colin’s brows furrowed in confusion as he looked around. A crowd of angara had formed in the corner of the lab, and Colin figured one of them must know where he could find her, so he approached the group and went to ask an angara with similar coloring to Jaal who was on the outskirts of the group, tapping on her shoulder timidly. She turned to him questioningly. “You wouldn’t happen to know where my sister, Cassiel, is?” he asked, and she smirked at him, not saying anything but pointing to the center of the group. Colin’s brows rose as he led Jaal and Drack through the group to find Cassiel and all three members of the Tempest ground team were incredibly surprised to find Cassiel sat cross legged on the floor in front of a light blue angaran male, with Mr. Tumnus sat behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder. Jaal, as well as a couple of the other angara, were staring quizzically at her legs, confused as to how they bent like that. No matter how often Jaal saw her alien legs do odd things that would injure an angara if they tried, he was still very much unused to it.

“What’re you doing, squirt?” Drack asked, and Cassiel jumped, looking up at him in wide eyed confusion.

“What?” she murmured, then her eyes widened. “Oh! Right!” she held up a finger to signal him to wait, then tapped a button on her omni tool to turn her translator back on. “Sorry, my translator was off, what did you say?” she asked him to repeat himself, and Drack shook his head with a chuckle.

“I asked what you were doing,” he said, and Cassiel beamed.

“Aarvos is teaching me some Shelesh!” she said excitedly, looking between the blue angaran male who the others could only assume was Aarvos and her crewmates.

“What?” Colin laughed a bit. “Cass, you already know like 4 langauges,” he said, and Cassiel nodded, not showing her disappointment that her brother wasn’t excited for her.

“Soon to be 5!” she giggled with an almost painfully large grin on her face, and Colin rolled his eyes. Jaal, however, responded with the enthusiasm Cassiel was hoping for.

“Really?” he gasped, going to sit next to Cassiel. “What have you learned so far?” he asked, and Cassiel turned off her translator once more, excited to show off her progress.

“ _ Ta aara Cassiel, lani raana ave nova savo pas pav, _ (I name Cassiel, may stars and skies light you path)” she said, and Jaal’s brow ridge rose in surprise.

“Very good,” he complimented once Cassiel tapped the button to turn her translator back on. She turned to Aarvos, and he nodded.

“We need to work on your conjugation,” he said, but a large smile was present on his face. “But very good for not even 30 minutes of learning,” he acquiesced, and Cassiel beamed at him.

“I could continue to teach you on the Tempest after we leave, if you’d like,” Jaal offered, and Cassiel’s beaming hopeful smile turned towards him.

“Really?”

“Of course!” Cassiel threw her arms around Jaal’s shoulders, squeezing him tight, causing him to crunch his shoulders to lean down so that Cassiel had an easier time hugging him. Colin chuckled at the sight, how Jaal’s huge frame was scrunched to try to let Cassiel embrace him. Cassiel stuck her tongue out at her older brother, and Colin’s chuckles turned into a laugh as he shook his head at his little sister.

“Come on, you nerd, let’s get back to the Tempest,” he prompted, thrusting a hand out to help Cassiel stand, and she sighed, grabbing her brother’s hand and allowing him to hoist her onto her feet before turning to Aarvos, who had also stood. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” she chimed, giving him a quick hug before following Drack and her brother out the door, Jaal following close behind her. Cassiel tapped her thigh, prompting Mr. Tumnus to rush out behind Jaal, brushing past him and trotting over to walk at Cassiel’s side. The group walked back over the bridge, and Cassiel was tempted to pinch her eyes shut as she jumped over the gap once more, SAM once again engaging her jump jets for her. She refrained from doing so, of course, and once she was safely on the other side, she turned to look at Mr. Tumnus who was still on the opposite platform. Jaal had assured her that Mr. Tumnus could jump the distance, and Cassiel and the other Milky Way migrants with her were in awe watching Mr. Tumnus galloping on his six legs and leaping over the easily 10 foot gap from the end of one platform to the other.

“Wow,” Colin murmured, and Cassiel could only nod in agreement. Before Colin and Drack could recover from their shock, Cassiel was nudged by Jaal, who gestured to the remaining green blood on her neck and face, and she grimaced when she realized that the bits that she could wipe off with her gloves had become crusty, and if she scrunched her face or tilted her neck a certain way she could feel it pulling.

“DIBS ON FIRST SHOWER!” she shouted, winking at Jaal in thanks for the reminder as she turned and booked it the rest of the way to the Tempest, laughing at Colin’s groan.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that!” he called after her, and his grunt was heard as he turned and began to run after his little sister, stumbling over a stray root. “I have Pathfinder privileges!” Cassiel shook her head.

“Well I’m sure!” she shouted over her shoulder. “Cuz I have this special privilege called  _ I’ve had challyrion blood all over me for the past six hours _ !” she snapped, groaning in relief as the Tempest’s ramp came into view. A small smirk appeared on her face when she heard Drack and Jaal’s laughter.

“She’s got a point, kid,” the krogan said mirthfully, and Colin just rolled his eyes. “How’d you kill it?” Drack asked Cassiel, and she paused in her trek back to the Tempest and turned to him, pulling her knife out of her thigh holster and showing it to the grizzled krogan warrior, who laughed, walking up to her and patting her on the back. “You’ve got quads, squirt,” he complimented, and Cassiel beamed up at him.

“That’s high praise coming from you, Grumpy!” she teased, and he just shook his head with a grunt, walking past her while grumbling.

“Damn brat,” she heard him mutter, and she just giggled, knowing that despite what Drack may say, he was a huge softy.

“Cassiel!” the group heard a voice shout, and they turned to see Aarvos running towards them, waving a hand around. They stopped walking, waiting for the angaran scientist to catch up, though once he did they had to continue waiting while he caught his breath, bending in half with his hands on his thighs as he took in large gulps of air. Once he had finally caught his breath, he straightened and handed a datapad to Cassiel, who looked at him curiously. “I synced this with some children’s books we use to teach language,” he explained, and Cassiel beamed at him gratefully. “There are also some vids on there,” he continued, and the small human woman flung her arms around his shoulders, yanking him down to her level for a tight hug.

“Thank you!” she gasped out, tightening her arms before releasing him. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she bade him farewell, and the Tempest ground team turned and continued on to the Tempest. As soon as the ramp lowered, Cassiel was booking it to the showers, leaving confused Mr. Tumnus in her wake. The flanjaak simply huffed, looking around to find someone to play with.

He first tried to get Colin to play, he smelled the most similar to his person and looked like her too, but Colin gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, bud, I have reports I need to do,” he said, and Mr. Tumnus tilted his head in confusion, though when Colin turned away from him and went into the Pathfinder quarters without another word, he got the gist that Colin would not be playing with him. He tried Jaal next, rubbing against the angara’s familiar legs, but the purple male sighed.

“Unfortunately, I must do the same,” he gave Mr. Tumnus a sad frown, and the flanjaak whimpered. Jaal sighed, not wanting to leave him like this, so he jerked his head for Cassiel’s pet to follow him. “Let’s see what Lexi is doing, yes?” he prompted, and led the flanjaak through the Nomad’s bay towards medbay. The doors swooshed open, and Lexi turned from their desk where they had been looking over a datapad.

“Yes?” she asked, and Jaal pointed to Mr. Tumnus.

“I have reports to do, and was hoping you could entertain him?” he asked, starry eyes widening pleadingly, and Lexi sighed before they nodded. She sent the flanjaak a wide smile, patting their thighs, and the flanjaak was quick to trot over to them and rub against their legs. Lexi gave him some rubs on his flank, and Jaal nodded, satisfied, before turning and going to fill out some reports in the tech lab.

A little while later, Cassiel had just finished her shower, and was towelling off when she realized her mistake. She hadn’t grabbed any clothes, and there was no way she was putting the ones covered in blood back on. She grumbled, wrapping the towel tightly around her body and keeping a hand on it to ensure it stayed, taking a deep breath in and out before opening the doors and making a mad dash for the Pathfinder quarters. 

A minute or two later the doors to the Pathfinder quarters swooshed open, and Mr. Tumnus walked in, purring when he saw Cassiel sitting on her bed, and climbing on to snuggle with her. The human woman smiled at the flanjaak, leaning down and obliging him with the snuggles.

Meanwhile, Jaal was leaning against the counter in the galley with a confused look on his face. Cassiel had seemed embarrassed, and she was so preoccupied with getting into the Pathfinder quarters that he doubted she even noticed him grabbing a tube of nutrient paste from the fridge. Was nudity taboo for humans? At least he had some ammunition against Evfra, now. Jaal smirked, shaking his head, before he pushed off of the counter and went to return to the tech lab to continue writing his reports.


	10. X: Jaal Has A Death Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter from the POV of our favorite grumpy space cat

Evfra was at Resistance HQ later than most everyone else, as usual. The only other living souls occupying the building this late at night were a couple of guards posted around the facility, so Evfra was alone in his office, going through some transfer requests. He had just finished the last request he was set to look through that night when his tool pinged, and he heaved out an exhausted sigh. Just when you think you’re done…

Evfra’s drooping shoulders straightened, however, when he saw he had received a message from Jaal, his second report since embarking on the alien ship, the Tempest, with Cassiel Ryder and her fellows from the Milky Way.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Jaal ama Darav _

_ Subject: Report _

_ There have been increasing tensions between Lieutenant Harper and Cassiel. Just yesterday Cassiel spent seven hours on an unnecessary task because Lieutenant Harper intimidated her into it. Drack, Dr. T’Perro and I were able to cheer her up and she ended up making me this food called ‘grilled cheese’. It was quite good, she had figured out why Milky Way food tastes bland to Angara and compiled a list of recipes that she thinks I might be able to enjoy. _

Evfra rolled his eyes as he read through the first paragraph of Jaal’s ‘report’. It was frustrating that the Havarl native would title the message a report and then spend the first paragraph speaking about Cassiel and petty drama on the alien ship. He sighed in exasperation, but continued to read.

_ We arrived on Havarl this morning, and Cassiel joined us on the ground team with Drack and Pathfinder Ryder. She did most of the talking with the scientists, and then stayed behind while the rest of us went to investigate the scientists who had been trapped in a stasis in the monolith. I must admit that I was skeptical of Ryder being able to interface with Remnant technology, but he was able to disable the stasis field effortlessly. _

_ When we arrived back at Daar Pelaav, we found Cassiel had (unsurprisingly) won over the scientists there. Aarvos, a scientist at Daar Pelaav who seems fond of Cassiel, was teaching Cassiel Shelesh. She displayed such passion for learning our language, and apparently already knows 4 others! I volunteered to continue teaching her. _

_ Earlier while the team and I were at the monolith, apparently Cassiel went back to the Tempest to retrieve Mr. Tumnus. She was attacked by a challyrion on the way but was able to kill it! She has little combat training, but Evfra, I saw the blade she used, and the beast had pinned her. It was quite an impressive feat to be able to stab that blade through its skull! _

_ She also bantered with the Pathfinder over who got to shower first, and she ended up ‘winning’ the first shower because she had been covered in the beast’s blood for hours. I also think that Initiative species are much more modest about nudity than us… she seemed to forget her clothes in her quarters and ended up wrapping herself in a thin towel and running to her quarters. She appeared to be quite embarrassed. _

_ PS: I still believe that you would get along immensely with Cassiel ;) (Cassiel told me that Initiative species use those ‘emoticons’ to signify facial expressions, that one is a winking face) _

_ -Jaal ama Darav _

_ [Jaal ama Darav has attached 1 Document File] _

Evfra let out a groan of frustration at all the insignificant details Jaal had included. He felt an uncomfortable hotness in his chest that he would usually associate with anger when he read that one of the scientists was ‘fond’ of Cassiel, though he attributed the feeling to disgust, how could one be so comfortable around aliens after not even a day in their presence? If he had given it much more thought, Evfra probably would have ended up admitting to himself that the feeling was closer to jealousy, a result of what he was calling his ‘irrational infatuation’ with the small human woman.

Evfra was frustrated by the range of emotions he had felt reading Jaal’s message. All to do with Cassiel. The jeal- _ disgust _ at Aarvos’ fondness for her, the odd feeling of pride at hearing that she had killed a challyrion with barely any combat training and a small blade, and the pulse of embarrassed affection that resonated through his field at the anecdote of Cassiel in a thin towel. The bioelectric equivalent to a blush, Evfra was momentarily glad he was the only one around at Resistance HQ, the others who frequented the base had enough ammunition to tease him with about his field in the presence of Cassiel and in the reading of Jaal’s first report, the picture from which was still saved to his tool.

The Resistance general shook his head harshly, attempting to clear thoughts of Cassiel Ryder from his mind, and typed out a reply to Jaal, his fingers admittedly tapping on the datapad a little harsher than was strictly necessary.

_ To: Jaal ama Darav _

_ From: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ Re: Report _

_ I fail to see the necessity of putting so many details about Cassiel- _

Evfra erased her name, replacing it with ‘the female Ryder’ in an attempt to distance himself.

_ I fail to see the necessity of putting so many details about the female Ryder in your report. It is also quite unprofessional to try to encourage a more personal relationship between her and I. Keep me updated on the important details. _

_ -Evfra de Tershaav _

Aggressively hitting  **send** , Evfra flung the datapad onto his desk and leaned back in his chair, a hand coming to pinch his brows at the beginnings of a headache coming on. He sat there for a couple moments, deep in thought, before hesitantly reaching out and picking up his datapad once more, opening a new message and beginning to type. After he had written out what he wished to say, he sat there for a long while with the message open, not yet sending it and simply contemplating if he even should.

His thumb hovered over the **send** button until Evfra closed his eyes and pressed down, hearing a _ping_ signalling the message had been sent. His eyes opened and he breathed out a sigh, it was too late to take it back now. Looking around, Evfra decided he had stayed late enough, and stood up, grabbing his datapad and beginning to walk to his apartment on Aya, anxious to get some rest.

He didn’t wait for the receivers of either of his messages to get a reply, deciding he would deal with both on the shuttle ride he would be embarking on the next morning, and without even disrobing the exhausted Resistance leader face planted onto his bed, soft snores echoing through his apartment not even minutes later after he passed out.


	11. XI: Professional Integrity? Psh...

Cassiel was lying in bed after her long day, snuggling with Mr. Tumnus as she listened to the slight patter of rain against the Tempest hull where they were parked under Havarl’s jungle canopy. She had almost been lulled to sleep by the ambient noise, combined with the calming feeling of Mr. Tumnus’ stomach rising and falling under her hands in deep breaths as he slept, when her tool pinged. Cassiel groaned, her eyes squinting open as she contemplated opening the message or falling asleep.

“SAM?” she called, quietly as not to disturb her snoring brother in his own bed across the room. “Should I wait until morning to open that message?” she asked.

“The message contains nothing urgent, and you could wait until morning to open it,” SAM responded, and Cassiel sighed, her eyes slipping closed once more. “However I believe you will like the contents of the message,” he said just as Cassiel felt her consciousness slipping, and she huffed out a frustrated breath before sitting up slowly, trying not to jostle Mr. Tumnus too much.

“You’re an ass,” she muttered to SAM as she opened her tool, squinting at the bright light.

_ To: Cassiel Ryder _

_ From: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ Subject: Learning Shelesh _

_ Jaal has informed me of your interest in learning Shelesh. If you require materials for assistance let me know. Please keep me updated on your progress, I am interested to see how an alien picks up our language. _

_ -Evfra de Tershaav, An Intrigued Angara _

Cassiel giggled as she got to the end of the message, not missing how he continued with their odd way of signing messages. It was cute, not that she would say that to him, she imagined she’d get an infuriated scowl in response. She hit  **reply** and began to type out a response, attempting to do so in Shelesh.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Re: Learning Shelesh _

_ Pavoa,  _

She groaned, and abruptly backspaced, realizing she definitely didn’t have the vocabulary needed to construct a response in the language of the angara. She sighed dejectedly, and began to type out her reply once more, this time in her native English.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Re: Learning Shelesh _

_ Since you’ve offered, I was wondering if you had any vid suggestions? Aarvos gave me some, but they’re all cheesy romance vids and I can’t force myself to watch them…  _

Gosan inadoar ave honava! 

_ -An eager Shelesh scholar _

Hitting  **send** , Cassiel sighed, leaving it with a shelesh greeting which would have to do.

“Cassiel,” SAM chimed as the human closed her tool, settling back under the covers and allowing Mr. Tumnus to shift so his head was across her chest.

“Yeah, SAM?” she responded.

“You have said I could ask you about human behavior that I did not understand,” he began, and Cassiel’s face pinched in confusion.

“Sure, what’re you wondering?”

“Your dopamine levels have increased by 50% in the last 4 minutes,” he observed. “Why is that?” Cassiel felt the heat rising to her cheeks, throwing a hand over her eyes in embarrassment.

“I… don’t know,” she finally murmured, hoping SAM would leave it at that, but the AI was persistent.

“Cassiel, I would like you to be aware that as I am connected to you, I know when you lie,” SAM informed her, and Cassiel groaned, stuttering as she attempted to form a response.

“Uh… I… Well…” she stammered out, and SAM saved her by chiming in.

“Is it because you find General de Tershavav attractive?” Cassiel shot up once more in shock, Mr. Tumnus blinking sleepily at her before his catlike galaxy eyes slid closed, seeing there was no threat. Her cheeks flamed as she sputtered, trying to come up with a response to deny the claim. “It will be interesting to observe further developments between you two," SAM continued as if Cassiel wasn’t in the midst of having a stroke.

“W-what?!” she finally gasped out, hands flying to her cheeks to try to cool them down.

“My experience with romantic attachment has, until this point, been solely through the eyes of Alec Ryder, who was in an established marriage,” SAM explained, and Cassiel groaned, flopping back on the bed.

“Just…” she trailed off, glancing over at Colin to find that he was thankfully still asleep. “Keep this to yourself, please,” she implored the AI.

“Of course,” SAM responded, the light of his sphere dimming, signaling that their conversation was over. Cassiel sighed heavily, stroking Mr. Tumnus’ green fur as she allowed herself to finally fall asleep.

The following morning, Cassiel was awoken by another ping from her omnitool. She rolled onto her back, swiping and pulling up the message, and read it with still half-asleep eyes.

_ To: Cassiel Ryder _

_ From: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ Re: Learning Shelesh _

_ It has been a very long time since I’ve sat down to watch a vid, however I can direct you to some old ones that I remember enjoying in my youth. Try X, X, and X.  _

_ PS: I think you meant to say inadaar, inadoar has quite a different meaning… _

_ -Evfra de Tershaav, a Slightly Amused Shelesh Speaker _

Cassiel groaned at the PS, frantically trying to think of what  _ inadoar _ could mean. She took note of the movies he suggested, reminding herself to ask Aarvos where she could upload them to her tool when she saw him later that day.

“SAM?” she called quietly, snorting at the image of her still sleeping brother with a small puddle of drool on his pillow.

“Yes?” 

“What does  _ inadoar _ mean?” she asked, and there was a pause.

“Sexy,” SAM replied, and Cassiel began coughing at that. She had just told the Resistance General to stay sexy and clear! She could feel her cheeks burning, and Cassiel abruptly stood, ignoring the headrush that followed as she marched to the closet and threw on a random hoodie of Colin’s. She needed to distract herself.

“Who’s on breakfast duty today?” she asked the AI.

“Colin is supposed to be serving breakfast in half an hour,” SAM responded, thankfully not commenting on Cassiel’s mistake in her message to Evfra. She glanced over at Colin, seeing him still fast asleep, and rolled her eyes.

“Let him sleep, I’ll cook,” she muttered, pretending to be put off despite the fact that she was grateful for the distraction. Looking down at herself, she decided that shoes were overrated and her initiative issue shorts were fine if she was just going to cook breakfast. She glanced at Mr. Tumnus, finding him sitting up in bed and staring at her.

“You coming?” she asked, motioning towards the door, and the flanjaak needed no further prompting. He launched himself from the bed, affectionately butting his head against Cassiel’s chest as he moved to sit in front of the door. Cassiel smiled at her pet, scritching between his horns as she moved from the Pathfinder quarters to the galley. “Time to try that omelet recipe I found…” she murmured, opening the fridge and beginning to make sure that the Tempest had all the ingredients she would need.

A little over half an hour later, Cassiel was bursting into the Pathfinder quarters, her excited flanjaak right on her tail.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty!” she shouted, laughing at Colin’s shout of surprise. Mr. Tumnus jumped up onto his bed, legs knocking into Colin’s stomach, before Mr. Tumnus jumped off, backing up and allowing the man some space. Colin coughed as he rolled over, though he miscalculated where he was and found himself rolling off of his bed and onto the floor with a  _ thud _ .

“What the hell?” he groaned at Cassiel, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of him. His little sister simply smiled at him, leaning down to peck his cheek and sweeping out of the room as abruptly as she had come in.

“Breakfast’s ready!” she called over her shoulder as the door closed, smirking in amusement to herself when she heard Colin’s groan. Cassiel turned, beginning to climb the ladder to the upper level. “Just a minute, Mr. Tumnus,” she called over her shoulder, smiling warmly when her pet sat next to the ladder, tail wagging as he waited patiently. Cassiel walked through the doors to the Tempest bridge. “Morning Suvi, Kallo,” she greeted, the science officer and pilot greeting her back. “Breakfast is in the galley,” she told them, and Suvi got up with a groan at the crack in her knees.

“Thanks, luv,” she smiled at Cassiel, who gave her a short hug.

“Course,” she responded, shrugging and then looking over at Kallo, who had made no move to get some breakfast. “Kallo,” she growled, and the salarian looked up at her sheepishly.

“But-”

“We’re not even flying right now, Kallo,” she cut off his protest before it could even really begin, and he sighed, standing and slinking past her moodily. Cassiel ‘hmphed’, going over to the intercom and pressing the  **speak** button. “Breakfast is ready in the galley, everyone! Come and get it!” she called into it before exiting the bridge behind Kallo. She slid down the ladder and laughed when she found Mr. Tumnus sitting between Vetra and Suvi, basking in the pets they were giving him.

“Who’s a good boy?” Vetra was purring to him in a baby voice, and Cassiel almost froze at the surprising sound, but instead she went to the dish where she had placed the dextro omelets and passed it to the turian. Mr. Tumnus didn’t even acknowledge his owner, leaning into Suvi even more when she began to scratch at the space between his horn and ear. Cassiel just shook her head with a giggle, filling up her own plate. Jaal came in a minute or so later, and Cassiel slid him a dish.

“I modified it a bit, but it should at least have a taste to you,” she said to him, and he smiled in thanks, biting into the omelet, and found his eyes closing in bliss. “Good?”

“Amazing,” he muttered, shoving more into his mouth, and Cassiel giggled, looking around and finding most of the Tempest crew had crowded into the galley, excluding Peebee and Cora. Cassiel stood and made her way to her brother, nudging his shoulder causing him to look down at her in question.

“Do you wanna get Cora?” she asked, blinking up at him with her little sibling puppy eyes that she had perfected years prior. “I’ll get Peebee,” she offered, and Colin nodded, disappearing from the galley and heading towards the plant lab while Cassiel climbed the ladder and entered the bridge once more. The door to the escape pod slid open for her, and she found herself glaring at the asari, who was reading through some scans that Colin had given her the day prior. She cleared her throat, and their resident mad scientist flicked their gaze to her for only a second before returning it to the datapad. “Peebee,” Cassiel called, getting a similar response, or lack of response, rather. “Get your ass to galley, Peebee! You’re on the ground team today!” she growled, crossing her arms in an attempt to seem menacing, and Peebee finally looked up at her, smirking at the shorter human.

“Fine,” they sighed dramatically, patting Cassiel on the shoulder as they passed. “You’re cute when you get all frustrated,” they added as an afterthought, winking at Cassiel before hopping down the ladder, causing Cassiel to blush and roll her eyes. Wanting a moment to cool off, Cassiel decided she would finally respond to Evfra’s message, the initial embarrassment having faded enough for her to look at it once more.

_ To: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Re: Learning Shelesh _

_ I’m sorry about that! And I really appreciate the suggestions! I’m planning on plugging into an Angaran vid database on Daar Pelaav, so now those are on my list! _

_ -Cassiel Ryder, a Slightly Embarrassed Shelesh Learner _

Satisfied, Cassiel hit  **send** and returned to the galley, seeing every crew member eating their breakfast.


	12. XII: Run Ins and Ideas

Once again, Cassiel was sitting on the desk next to Aarvos’ workstation in Daar Pelaav while Mr. Tumnus busied himself wandering the facility. The energetic flanjaak had found a ball and was bringing it to anyone who would throw it, though Cassiel wasn’t completely convinced that he had just found it lying around. A purple angaran guard who she saw speaking to Aarvos earlier that day looked all too gleefully at Mr. Tumnus as he trotted around happily with his ball, and she suspected that he had something to do with a random toy ball just lying around Daar Pelaav for Mr. Tumnus to find… Not that she minded at all.

“Aarvos?” she called to the angara hunched over a datapad, her eyes still following Mr. Tumnus as he darted around the lab. None of the angara seemed to really mind when he got underfoot, just giving hima pat on his head and tossing his ball across the room for him when he did.

“Yes?” Aarvos didn’t even look up at the human, intently focused on some recent scans of the flora around the monolith where Colin had saved the three scientists from the stasis field.

“Should I get toys for Mr. Tumnus?” she asked, and Aarvos tilted his head, pushing aside his work momentarily and thinking about it for a bit before responding.

“Well, since your flanjaak was wild beforehand, it’s not necessarily needed,” he explained, but he paused when he dared to glance at the adorable goat like creature as he played with the ball. “But he looks like he would enjoy some,” he confessed, and Cassiel grinned at him.

“Great!” she beamed. “Do you know anything about toys for flanjaaks?” she asked, and Aarvos snorted, turning to give her an incredulous look.

“I haven’t told you about my family?” he asked, and Cassiel shook her head, lost. “We breed and raise domesticated flanjaaks,” he told her, and Cassiel’s mouth opened in an ‘o’ as her eyes widened.

“Seriously?” Aarvos nodded.

“Of course I’m serious, silly human,” he teased, and Cassiel stuck her tongue out at him. “Why do you do that?” he asked, and Cassiel tilted her head, humming in confusion. “You stick out your tongue, what does it mean?” Cassiel giggled.

“It’s a very childish way to tease someone,” she told him. “Most kids do it when they play a trick on somebody, or when they’re being teased to show their displeasure,” Aarvos hummed in acknowledgement.

“Of course it’s a child thing,” he muttered, and before Cassiel could get too offended he returned to addressing Cassiel’s flanjaak toy question again. “Now, there are a few types of toys you could get him, as you can see-” he gestured to where Mr. Tumnus was hitting the ball to make it fly across the lab before chasing after it, having run out of playmates to throw it for him. “-flanjaaks enjoy chasing things, so we have small contraptions with wheels on them. There are also lots of different puzzle toys you could look for,” Cassiel nodded along as he informed her on different types of flanjaak toys, smiling widely, eager to learn more about her new pet and how to care for him.

“Awesome!” she said once Aarvos finished explaining. “Where would I find them?” Aarvos leaned back in his chair, staring at the cieling to think.

“I suppose the best place for you would be Aya,” he said, and Cassiel sighed.

“Nexus species don’t have access to the city, yet,” she told him, and he hummed in thought.

“We also sell them at markets here on Havarl, but I don’t know if you’re allowed in residential areas either,” he said, and Cassiel groaned.

“Great,” she muttered bitterly, before looking back up at Aarvos with a smile. “Thanks anyway for the info,” she gave him a short hug before pulling back at the sound of Mr. Tumnus whimpering. He was sitting in front of the door that led to the outdoors, whimpering as he looked between Cassiel and the door. “What? You wanna go out?” she asked, and Mr. Tumnus whimpered once more. She nodded, standing and sending Aarvos a quick smile before walking to the door. “Okay, but stay close to me,” she pointed at Mr. Tumnus to show she was serious, and the flanjaak just blinked at her, waiting to walk through the door. Cassiel sighed affectionately, scritching behind his horns before stepping through the door. Mr. Tumnus quickly darted down the stairs, going a little ways from the walking path to the daar before doing his business. 

“Okay, time to go in!” Cassiel called once he was finished, and he trotted back to her, pausing at her side for a moment before darting up the stairs to her left. “Wait!” Cassiel called at him, racing after him. She heard the sound of a shuttle, and realized Mr. Tumnus was going to the landing pad. She pushed her legs faster, reaching Mr. Tumnus just before the shuttle touched down, she grabbed him and wrapped her arms around his neck, making sure he stayed by her while the shuttle landed. 

Mr. Tumnus squirmed as the shuttle landed. Cassiel kept a tight hold of him as the ramp slowly lowered, and Mr. Tumnus stomped some of his legs to demonstrate his antsiness. The human shook her head with narrowed eyes, but Mr. Tumnus refused to relax. There had been plenty of shuttle take offs and landings since Mr. Tumnus and her had been at Daar Pelaav, and he had never acted this strange about it. Cassiel’s eyes snapped up to the ramp when she heard footsteps, and they widened when she saw a familiar bright blue angara step off the shuttle with a couple of other Resistance members. Her arms unintentionally loosened around Mr. Tumnus, staring at General Evfra de Tershaav, who met her gaze with fierce intensity, and Mr. Tumnus began to trot towards him. Cassiel snapped out of her daze once he was out of arms reached, and she quickly straightened, calling after him.

“Mr. Tumnus!” she called, causing the flanjaak to stop where he was. “Sit!” she commanded, and the flanjaak obediently sat down. When she looked back up, most of the Resistance members had dispersed, including Evfra, who had disappeared from her view.

“You have him well trained already,” his deep voice, in an accent that reminded her of an australian accent, sounded from behind her, and Cassiel jumped in surprise, whipping around to face him with wide eyes. She fidgeted under his intense gaze.

“Th-thank you,” she stuttered, saved from her embarrassment when Mr. Tumnus stood, his tail waving frantically as he looked between Evfra and his human. “D-do you mind if he..?” she trailed off, and Evfra nodded. She sent him a smile. “Okay,” she said to Mr. Tumnus, and the flanjaak wasted no time in rushing behind Evfra and headbutting him closer to Cassiel. His head butted against the small of Evfra’s back, and the angaran leader was so surprised that he stumbled, the flanjaak giving him a harsh shove just as he began to lose his footing, causing him to fall forward. Cassiel let out a surprised squeak as Evfra fell basically on top of her, luckily catching himself on his forearms before he could completely crush her. Heat was quick to rise to Cassiel’s cheeks, blushing as she apologized. “I’m so sorry!” she stuttered. “He’s usually much better behaved,”

Evfra was quick to roll off the human, briefly noting that her cheeks appeared pinker than normal as he stood.

“It’s fine,” he told her, glancing at her flanjaak, his mind racing. He did his best to ignore the stares and teasing brushes of fields he was getting from other angara, since his own field was letting out those bursts of awkward affection once more. In addition to the embarrassment of his subordinates witnessing the incident, the actions of the flanjaak had major implications…

Of course Cassiel would not know this, but among angara it was widely known that flanjaaks were almost prophetic, being able to tell when two individuals would mesh well together and working to push them together. He of course wouldn’t be telling Cassiel about that tidbit of information, however.

The human sat up, still looking at him with a slightly dazed expression and still pink cheeks. She turned to her flanjaak with a pout after a moment.

“That wasn’t nice,” she scolded him, and Mr. Tumnus whimpered at her tone. She didn’t budge, raising her brows at him. “Well?” to Evfra’s surprise, the flanjaak approached him, under the appraising eyes of Cassiel, rubbing his head affectionately against Evfra’s hand, which hung down at his side. The flanjaak sent an apologetic pulse of bioelectricity to Evfra, and the angara sent soothing waves back, scritching his head slightly. The flanjaak preened under the affection, and Evfra found himself with a subtle grin, kneeling next to the flanjaak to give him more love.

Cassiel felt the need to escape, like yesterday, as she watched Evfra interact with Mr. Tumnus. She pushed herself to her feet, feeling her cheeks still flaming. She had acknowledged to SAM and herself that she found Evfra attractive, and the affection with which he handled her flanjaak was not doing anything to dampen that. 

“Um…” she tripped over her own words, and Evfra looked up from Mr. Tumnus with a questioning gaze. “Goodbye!” she squeaked, motioning for Mr. Tumnus to follow as she rushed back down the stairs. The flanjaak broke away from Evfra, chasing after her with bursts of happy bioelectricity following in his wake. She refused to look back at Evfra, instead running down the stairs and back into the lab of Daar Pelaav. She avoided eye contact with Aarvos as she hopped back up onto his desk, and Aarvos startled in surprise as she brushed past him to jump on. Mr. Tumnus laid by his feet as Aarvos peered up at Cassiel, noticing her averted gaze.

“Cassiel?” he called to her, and she hummed in question, glancing up at him, and Aarvos’s galaxy eyes widened as he looked at her face. He quickly stood, and grabbed her cheek, peering at her face. “You’re pink!” he exclaimed, a tone of worry in his voice. “Are you alright?” he asked her, and Cassiel sighed.

“I’m fine, Aarvos,” she reassured him, her cheeks feeling even hotter, but Aarvos was unconvinced.

“You’re turning even redder!” he gasped, looking at her. “Is that normal? Are you sick?” he pressed, but luckily Cassiel was saved from having to answer him as the doors swished open. They both turned to the door, seeing Evfra walk in, arms crossed behind his back. Aarvos’ brow ridge raised as he sensed something peculiar about the General’s bioelectric field. He turned to her with a smirk. “Oh,” he said innocently, and Cassiel’s head tilted. “That’s why,”

“What’s why?” she asked, but Aarvos shook his head.

“Later,” he said, and Cassiel pouted at him, but dropped the subject for now. They both turned to not so subtly watch Evfra walk up to Kiraan.

“Is there anything new?” he asked her, and she sighed, shaking her head.

“No,” her voice sounded sad, almost defeated, and Cassiel’s head tilted in interest. “The planet is still getting worse,” she sighed, and Cassiel’s brows furrowed, turning to Aarvos.

“I thought Colin was working on that,” she muttered, and Aarvos shrugged.

“A lot of angara having been giving him extra tasks, apparently he never says no,” he shrugged, and Cassiel frowned in thought.

Her mind moved a mile a minute. Why was Colin the one who had to activate the monoliths? He had told her about the extra element of SAM that was in him thanks to Alec passing on the title, but nothing about the extra he had helped him with activating remnant tech. She had the same implant as him. Maybe she could-but it was dangerous. She could handle it. Should she take someone with her? Colin took two people whenever he went. Who could she ask? She didn’t want to worry Colin. This would have to be a secret. Who could keep a secret from Colin?

She turned back to Aarvos.

“Can you transfer me a map and some info on that monolith?” she asked, and Aarvos nodded.

“Why?” he asked as he swiped a couple of things on his omnitool, Cassiel’s pinging as she received the map and some background on the monolith.

“Watch Mr. Tumnus,” she told him, pointing at her flanjaak and sweeping out of the Daar. 

“What?” he called after her, but she was already gone. The others had turned to look. Kiraan and Evfra included, and all the angara were just left staring at the door for a moment, before they all shrugged, going back to their work.


	13. XIII: Lessons in Badassery

Cassiel made her way back to the Tempest, glad she didn’t run into anyone on her way to the armory. Luckily, Kallo and Suvi were both sleeping, so there wasn’t anybody on the bridge to question her either. She grabbed two pistols that she was sure would not be missed, and then snuck back into the wilds of Havarl.

“Cassiel, are you sure this is the wisest course of action?” SAM piped up in her head, and Cassiel scoffed.

“Of course it isn’t,” she smiled slightly as she pulled up the map of Havarl on her omnitool. After studying it for a moment, she oriented herself in the direction in which Mithrava was, and began making her way through the foliage. “But I can handle myself,” SAM said no more, though Cassiel swore she could feel his disappointment in her response.

As she made her way to the gorge in which the entrance to Mithrava was hidden, Cassiel ran into another challyrion, though this one had friends.

“Shit!” she cursed as she narrowly avoided getting tackled to the ground when one it’s cloaking abilities to get close to her. She shot at it, but the bullets didn’t seem to do as much as she would have hoped, and she soon found herself being chased by a pack of 4 or 5 challyrions. “Shit!” Once more, Cassiel cursed. She came to a stop to catch her breath, and saw the challyrions closing in on her. Cassiel’s eyes narrowed at them, and none of them seemed to notice a bit of a blue glow flicker around her. When they got close enough, Cassiel propelled herself into the air with a burst of biotic energy, slamming back into the ground with a nova and causing the challyrions to go sprawling. 

Cassiel made quick work of the ones who had managed to survive the biotic blast, and walked back to the edge of the gorge. 

“Let’s go,” she mumbled to herself, beginning to climb down. At the bottom of the gorge, she ran into a couple of remnant who she was luckily able to sneak past. The bottom of the gorge was filled with a shallow river, and as long as Cassiel moved slowly she could get by everything undetected.

After maybe 20 minutes of sneaking through the gorge, Cassiel came to a giant wall. She brought her scanner up and began to scan along the edge. A door was outlined, though she had no idea how to get it opened.

“SAM?”

“There should be a panel nearby,” the AI told her, and Cassiel swiveled her head to look for it.

“Ah ha!” she gasped in glee when she found the panel, interfacing and causing the door to open. “Mithrava here I come!” she cheered, stepping through the now open door.

The climb wasn’t as difficult as she anticipated, it just required her to be focused, and Cassiel found herself glad to be out and moving around, despite the few remnant who had attacked her. Cassiel had freaked out a bit when one remnant made another in the middle of a fight, but SAM had explained it to her after she had killed them all.

“That’s cheating,” she had mumbled childishly before using a biotic burst of power to propel herself onto the next ridge. She had decided to use her jump jets as little as possible. SAM had said nothing in response.

Cassiel walked forward, a pistol raised close to her face in preparation to shoot, when she saw an interesting glowing plant.

“Ooh, what’s that?” she asked, pulling out her scanner.

“A bioluminescent fern, common to the areas of Havarl with remnant,” SAM told her, and Cassiel smiled, staring at the bright purple fern.

“Cool,” she said, going around a corner and running right into a floating remnant. “Oh fuck!” she dove out of the way when a red light began to swirl around what she would describe as the robot’s eye. A beam of light erupted from the remnant, and Cassiel dove for cover, watching the laser etch into the walls. She took a deep breath before raising her pistol and firing at the remnant, who had raised its shields. Instead of damaging it enough, the remnant just appeared more pissed, and swung around to point the laser at her cover. Cassiel huffed at the blast of heat before taking a deep breath and shooting at the eye of the remnant. This was enough to disrupt the laser, and Cassiel wasted no time in charging at the device and doing another nova, causing it to spark and fall to the ground. She shot it another two times for good measure before taking a deep breath.

“I don’t think I like remnant anymore, SAM,” she muttered, pulling a protein bar out of her pack. As a biotic, she really had to make sure she was eating and hydrating when using her power, otherwise her body could go into shock.

“Noted, Cassiel,” the AI responded, and Cassiel could hear the slight humor in his voice. She looked around, not sure where to go next.

“Can you spot anything to help me out?” she asked, looking around the area and hoping SAM could detect something she couldn’t.

“The panel on the left in front of you should activate another platform,” SAM told her, and Cassiel walked over to the panel. Lo and behold, a platform shot out from the side of the wall, and Cassiel propelled herself up and from the platform she could reach the next ridge.

“Thanks, SAM,” she said to the AI before looking around once more. She had made it to the top. A gravity well awaited her, and she activated it.

“This is so cool,” she murmured as the gravity well brought her up through some sort of shaft, and she found herself in some sort of village.  _ This must be Mithrava. _

A pale purple angara was quick to approach her, his steps brisk and posture defensive.

“You bypassed our security,” his voice was breathy, partially with disbelief, and partially just because his voice seemed almost gone from years of use. “How is that possible? An alien?”

“Like it’s hard?” she giggled, and the angara took a step back, his head tilting in confusion at her smile.

“Even  _ we _ have trouble understanding remnant tech,” he told her. “Only a handful here can operate our own gates,” his accent seemed thicker than Jaal’s, Cassiel observed. His head jerked to the side. “It doesn’t matter, you must leave,” he gestured back to the gravity well. “We do not entertain guests here,” Cassiel’s brows furrowed in frustration at being told to leave.

“I need your help,” she said, and the angara scoffed.

“Why would we provide it?” he challenged. “Why would an alien come to Mithrava for help?”

“Havarl is dying,” Cassiel responded, and the angara’s eyes widened at her bluntness. “Somewhere, there is a monolith that I can activate, and if I do, Havarl will stabilize,” she paused. “Hopefully,” this was mumbled under her breath.

“The location of the third monolith has been lost to us for ages,” the male angara shook his head. “Even if I wished to tell you, I could not,”

“Who even are you?” she asked. “Is there someone else who knows?”

“I am First Sage Esmus,” he answered her first question. “And the last person to know the location of the third monolith was Zorai,”

“Zorai?” Cassiel asked. “I’m assuming they’re… not with us anymore,” a frown appeared on her face, and Esmus nodded.

“There is one, however, who could access her knowledge,” Cassiel brows raised.

“What does that mean?”

“Her reincarnation,” Cassiel shook her head in disbelief.

“Reincarnation?” she repeated. “And her reincarnation would  _ actually _ be able to access her memories?” she was astounded. Esmus nodded once more.

“There is a roekaar by the name of Taavos, he is Zorai’s reincarnate,”

“So I can ask him?” Esmus shook his head.

“He cannot yet access her knowledge,” he explained. “He must touch a possession of Zorai’s,” Cassiel groaned.

“Where would I find one?” Esmus thought for a moment before pulling up his own omnitool. 

“I will give you a navpoint,” he said, and Cassiel brought up her tool as well, waiting for the  _ ping _ saying she had received something. Once it sounded, she smiled up at Esmus.

“Thank you,” she bade him, and he nodded, eyes flicking up and down her form in observation as she turned.

“Wait,” he called, and Cassiel turned back to him. “What is your name?” he asked, and Cassiel smiled once more.

“Cassiel Ryder,” she said. He nodded.

“Well, Cassiel Ryder, you should not go alone,” he said, and she nodded at him.

“Thank you for your help,” she repeated, before she walked back to the gravity well and activated it once more. Cassiel looked at the navpoint on her map, and she realized why Esmus had told her not to go alone. That area was literally called the Remnant Abyss. She pulled up her contacts before writing a message to both Vetra and Drack.

_ To: Vetra Nyx, Nakmor Drack _

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Subject: Up for some ass kicking? _ _   
_ _ Hey, are you guys up for kicking some remnant ass and keeping some secrets from Colin? _

* * *

An hour or so later, Cassiel met Vetra and Drack at the entrance to the Remnant Abyss.

“So what’s this all about, kid?” Drack asked, and Cassiel smiled at the pair before catching them up to speed, explaining the missing third monolith and the whole situation with Zorai. Vetra shook her head once Cassiel explained what they had to do.

“I thought you weren’t a soldier?” she accused, and Cassiel shrugged.

“I’m not,” was all she said in response, though Vetra and Drack both continued to stare at her, and Cassiel realized that she would not be able to get away with so little explanation. “I have basic combat training-”  _ not a lie _ . “-and I’ve had to fight my way through a couple bad situations-”  _ more than a couple _ “-I may not be as well versed as you guys, but I can hold my own,” she explained, and the turian and krogan both nodded in understanding, accepting her explanation.

“Alright, just be careful,” Vetra cautioned her, and Cassiel nodded with a slight smile.

“When I am not?” Vetra opened her mouth to respond. “Don’t answer that,”. Vetra sighed. “Everybody ready? Great! Let’s go!” Cassiel cheered before leading the way into the Remnant Abyss.

* * *

Hours later, the trio returned to the surface, all panting heavily. Cassiel collapsed on a nearby rock, trying to catch her breath while Drack and Vetra both brought their hands to their knees, hunched over and gasping for air.

“Cassiel,” SAM popped up as she tore another protein bar out of her pack.

“Yeah, SAM?” she asked as she took a bite out of it.

“Colin is searching for you, do you want me to give him your location?” he asked, and Cassiel almost choked on her protein bar. She forced herself to swallow before answering frantically.

“No!” she shouted, causing Drack and Vetra to look over at her in confusion. “Tell him I’ll meet him at Daar Pelaav!” she said, and Drack and Vetra both turned away, now understanding what was happening. Cassiel forced herself to stand, and Vetra and Drack followed slightly behind her as they made their way back to Daar Pelaav. When they got a little closer, Cassiel turned back to her backup.

“When he asks, I wanted to see some wildlife and you guys came as protection, okay?” both Drack and Vetra nodded at her cover story, and she smiled before leading them the rest of the way back. When they reached the steps to the main building, Colin was already waiting outside with Evfra and Jaal, and his arms were crossed over his chest, a scowl present on his face. When he saw Cassiel he wasted no time in rushing over to her and grabbing her shoulders, looking her over for injuries.

“Why are you all bloody?” he demanded, and Cassiel went to reply, her eyes darting around and landing on Evfra. “Where were you?” Colin pressed, and Cassiel opened her mouth to try to respond again, but nothing came out except stammers.

“Well, I… uh…” a blush came to her cheeks as she forced herself to ignore Evfra and speak to Colin. “I wanted to explore a bit, and uh… Drack and Vetra came along to help me out in case I ran into trouble,” Colin glanced at the blood on her face and neck.

“I’m guessing you ended up running into trouble?” his face was unamused, and Cassiel nodded slightly.

“A bit,” she admitted, averting her gaze to the ground. She heard both Evfra and Jaal scoff from where they were standing, and she sighed, turning back to Drack and Vetra. She had apparently satisfied Colin with her explanation, as he walked away to speak to Jaal. Cassiel rolled her eyes a bit, but tapped a button on her omnitool. “Meet me at this nav point tomorrow morning,” she mumbled to them, and they nodded. Luckily, neither of their tools made noise when they received the navpoint, since they had been sneaking around the remnant Abyss not 30 minutes earlier.

Drack and Vetra turned to return to the Tempest, and Cassiel walked up the stairs and into the main building of Daar Pelaav. Inside, Aarvos was sitting at the same desk he was at when she left, and Mr. Tumnus was sitting at his feet.

“Hey,” she greeted, and Aarvos whipped around to face her, looking almost relieved that she was back. “How was Mr. Tumnus? Did he behave?” she asked, and Aarvos groaned a bit.

“Define ‘behave’,” he grumbled, and Cassiel’s brows furrowed as she glanced down at her flanjaak, who had approached her and was now nuzzling into her stomach.

“What did he do?” she asked as she lowered a hand to scratch behind one of his horns.

“He decided to rub up against me at the most inopportune times,” Cassiel gasped, whipping around to see that Evfra had followed her inside. Only then did she notice the wet cloth Evfra was holding to the top of his head, and she rushed over to him.

“Awe, shit! Did he make you run into something?” she asked, grabbing the cloth and wincing at the green welt it was covering. “I’m so sorry! Let me help with that!” she grabbed a medigel canister and smeared a dollop onto the welt.

Evfra said nothing as she did this, instead he just stood still and stared at her. Though there was no visual reaction, his field was making up for it, as it usually did when he was around her. The moment her fingers made contact with his head a blast of affection burst into his field, but the moment was over quickly, and soon Cassiel was backing away with a beaming smile on her face.

“There!” she said. “That should start to feel better soon,” Evfra nodded awkwardly.

“Thank you,” the words sounded odd in his mouth, Evfra de Tershaav was not an angara in the habit of thanking people. Cassiel nodded back, then turned and walked over to Aarvos. The blue angara was staring at her with wide eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked, and Cassiel let out a confused giggle.

“Um… what?”

“Evfra de Tershaav does not let people touch him, and Evfra de Tershaav  _ definitely _ does not  _ aranjj _ !” he whisper shouted, and Cassiel’s brows pinched together, the explanation not helping at all.

“ _ Aranjj _ ?” she asked, and Aarvos nodded, looking around before grabbing her arm and pulling her outside, not wanting them to be overheard, mostly to protect both Cassiel and Evfra’s integrity.

“You know of our fields, yes?” Aarvos asked, and Cassiel nodded. “We communicate emotions through them, and when we are embarrassed or attracted to someone or both sometimes, we emit a certain pulse that we call an  _ aranjj _ ,” he explained, and Cassiel nodded.

“Like… blushing?” she asked, and Aarvos shook his head, now he was the confused one.

“What is  _ blushing _ ?” he asked.

“When humans feel the same thing, our cheeks heat up, sometimes our whole bodies, and they turn kind of pink,” she explained, and Aarvos’ eyes lit up in recognition.

“Like you were doing earlier!” he beamed, and Cassiel nodded, her cheeks pinking again. Aarvos pointed at her cheeks, holding in a squeak of excitement, and she rolled her eyes.

“I need a shower,” she mumbled, turning and stomping back to the Tempest, Mr. Tumnus trailing her. Aarvos just laughed as she rushed away.


	14. XIV: I Don't Know What I'm Doing, But Trust Me Anyway

The next morning, Cassiel set off to the Roekaar camp where Taavos was stationed. She had left Mr. Tumnus with Lexi, this time. 

Cassiel went through this sort of engineered crevice in the Remnant walls, and on the other side she emerged into what looked like a courtyard. A clearing of somesort, and Cassiel found she actually had a sightline to the Roekaar camp despite it being a couple of clicks away, which was strange for Havarl, where you usually couldn’t tell what was going to be ten feet in front of you with the density of the jungle.

“Cassiel!” her head turned and she saw Vetra waving an arm in the air a little ways away. She jogged over to them with a smile.

“Hey guys,” she greeted. Before either of them could greet her back, though, there was a loud noise like a shuttle taking off.

“Forward Station Deployed,” SAM announced, and Cassiel cringed.

“Oh,” she muttered as she saw the pod being lowered to the ground a couple meters away from them. Vetra and Drack chuckled as Cassiel’s omnitool pinged, showing that Kallo was contacting her. She swiped to the side to accept his call.

“Colin is currently on the other side of Havarl right now,” he said, and Cassiel could hear his clear confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t worry about it, Kallo,” she said. “I have Drack and Vetra with me,” Kallo sighed. Before he could hang up, however, Cassiel’s eyes widened as she remembered another important detail. “Oh and please don’t tell Colin!”

“What?” the salarian asked, disbelief in his tone.

“Please,” Cassiel pressed, and he sighed.

“Fine,” with that, Cassiel heard a low tone signalling the call had been ended. She turned back to Vetra and Drack.

“So what’s the plan, kid?” Drack asked, and Cassiel looked over at the Roekaar camp, brows furrowed as she contemplated how to get there with the least possible blood shed.

“Can you guys make a distraction, get most of the Roekaar away from the main camp?” she asked, and Drack chuckled.

“It’d be my pleasure,” he said, looking over at Vetra. “You got any explosives?” he asked, and the turian scoffed.

“Do I have explosives?” she repeated sarcastically, pulling out her pack. “Of course I have explosives,” Cassiel beamed.

“Great!” she said. “When you guys start, I’ll sneak into the camp and talk to our guy,” her two companions nodded before making their way closer to the camp. Cassiel did so as well. The camp was on the top of a cliff, with stairs leading to the main area, so Cassiel went to the cliffside a little ways away from the camp first and then crept along the cliffside as not to be spotted by the Roekaar while she was waiting for Drack and Vetra’s distraction.

It came in the form of a loud explosion with water shooting up into the air. She could distantly hear Drack shout, and the Roekaar all looked at each other in confusion before racing towards the commotion. Cassiel smirked, she hadn’t expected  _ every  _ guard to go to Vetra and Drack’s diversion. They could handle themselves, though, and it made it easier for Cassiel to carry out her part of the plan.

Staying low, Cassiel went up the stairs as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. At the top of the stairs, she saw a few Roekaar hanging about in a clearing with a couple buildings surrounding it. She was quickly able to determine which building was the main command, and she made her way to it slowly. Luckily, there was a large tree in the middle of the clearing, and if she kept on the other side of that, the Roekaar wouldn’t spot her.

Cassiel dove the last few meters to the door to the command building, it opening automatically for her. She quickly rushed inside, the door closing behind her with a  _ swoosh _ and her eyes zeroed in on Taavos, who was sitting at a desk in the corner. He glanced up, expecting her to be one of his troops, presumably, but when he saw Cassiel he immediately stood, pointing his gun at her.

“Wait!” she shouted, raising her hands in front of her face. “Please!” the Roekaar tilted his head in confusion.

“What?” he asked, and Cassiel cringed, realizing he didn’t have the Milky Way translator update. 

“Um…” she stuttered, before taking a deep breath. “ _ Paavoa, tave aara Cassiel Ryder, pav las… resan denni? _ (Hello, my name Cassiel Ryder, you no… trust me?)” she said, and the angara in front of her gasped at her use of Shelesh, lowering his gun slightly. Cassiel slowly reached into her pack, pulling out the glove-like object that was Zorai’s heirloom. “ _ Ta gasaan sov lonaat garen Havarl, lonoan caapan gaas, _ (I have idea for save Havarl, please touch thing)” she said, laying it on a table, and Taavos regarded her for a moment in pure bewilderment. He scoffed, reaching for the heirloom.

“I will humor you, silly alien,” he said as he reached for the glove, though the moment his hand made contact with it, he gasped, dropping to the floor while clutching his head. He let out a shout of surprise before looking up at Cassiel. “What have you done to me?” he demanded, and Cassiel scrambled for the words to explain it to him.

“ _ Pav gosaan renan de Zorai, _ (You have remember of Zorai)” she told him. “ _ Lanai unaara garen Havarl, _ (Can help save Havarl)” Taavos slowly got to his feet, putting his gun aside and facing Cassiel.

“I know Zorai… I know  _ me _ ,” he muttered to himself, and Cassiel struggled to understand him. “I need… time to process, meet me here tomorrow morning” he said, pulling up his angara omnitool and putting in a few commands. Cassiel’s tool pinged a moment later, and she saw a new navpoint.

“ _Kaana_ ,(Thank you)” she bade Taavos before swiping on her omnitool. “Guys, I have a navpoint, retreat and meet me back at the forward station,” she commed Drack and Vetra, hearing a confirmation. As she made to leave, Taavos’ own comms lit up.

“ _ Vesegarana ishan, jav loshan do _ ,(The aliens have left, we’re coming back now)” they heard, and Taavos’ eyes widened as he looked up at Cassiel.

“Go!” he shouted, leading her out the door and showing her a back way out of the camp. Cassiel nodded to him in thanks before disappearing into the jungle and making her way back to the forward station.

After a couple minutes, Cassiel was back at the forward station. She saw Drack and Vetra sitting against it, panting a bit.

“So?” Vetra asked when they saw her, and Cassiel beamed.

“I have a navpoint!” she cheered, and Vetra chuckled a bit.

“Great!” she said, her head thunking back against the forward station. “I need a nap,” she sighed, and Cassiel giggled.

“Let’s get back to the Tempest then,” she said, and with heavy sighs her companions stood and began to follow her back to the Tempest.

* * *

“Is Cassiel really just looking around?” Colin asked Vetra as he came into her space off of the Nomad’s bay. Vetra shrugged her shoulders minutely.

“Yeah,” she answered, not even looking up from her terminal.

“Seriously?” Colin pressed, and Vetra sighed, pushing away from the terminal and standing, crossing over to him while pressing a couple things on her omnitool.

“She’s trying to get all these pictures of random things,” she said with a chuckle, pulling up a huge folder of images of Havarl’s plants and some of its animals. Colin didn’t need to know that these images were downloaded off of a database. “For memories or something,” Colin sighed, accepting Vetra’s explanation and leaving her to whatever she had been doing.

* * *

“Really?” Colin asked as Cassiel began gearing up once more the next day.

“What?” she asked around a protein bar she was munching on. She awkwardly fumbled with one of the buckles on her chest piece, and Colin sighed, approaching her and quickly fastening it for her. “Thanks,” she mumbled, and Colin nodded.

“You’re going out again?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded.

“Yeah,” she shrugged.

“I really think you should just stay on the Tempest, or at Daar Pelaav,” Colin said, hesitation in his voice as he glanced worriedly at her armor. Cassiel rolled her eyes slightly.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, eyes darting away as she thought of something to say that would calm him down. “Aarvos is… just taking me to this spot he was talking about, totally safe,” she said, making a mental note to actually talk to Aarvos later to ask him to cover for her. Colin sighed.

“Fine,” he groaned. “But be careful,” he pulled her into a quick hug, and Cassiel huffed out a small chuckle.

“Aren’t I always?” she shot back, and Colin laughed a bit.

“Absolutely not,” he answered, and Cassiel pouted before pulling away.

“Whatever,” she mumbled moodily before beginning to make her way to the Nomad’s bay. “Mr. Tumnus!” she called when she got to the ramp leading off the Tempest. The flanjaak bound over to her, rubbing against her affectionately before excitedly looking at the door. “Let’s go,” Cassiel giggled fondly at the flanjaak.

* * *

“You are a lucky alien, Cassiel Ryder,” Aarvos sighed once she asked him to cover for her. Cassiel beamed, giving him a large hug. “I am going to my family’s daar today, if you’d like I can bring Mr. Tumnus,” he offered, and Cassiel’s smile widened as her arms tightened around him.

“Thank you!” she squealed, and Aarvos chuckled.

“He will get to play with all the other flanjaaks there,” he said and Mr. Tumnus’ tail began wagging as if he knew exactly what they were talking about. With the angara’s bioelectricity, he just might.

* * *

“So what’s the plan this time?” Vetra asked as they all arrived at the forward station leading down to the Chasm of the Builders. 

“Simple, we get to the navpoint, and Taavos will lead us to the third monolith,” she explained, and Drack and Vetra both looked at her in surprise for a moment.

“He’s going to be here?” Drack asked, and Cassiel nodded.

“Well, yes, he is the one showing us the way,” she said, confused at their surprise.

“I thought the navpoint  _ was _ the third monolith,” Vetra sighed, and Cassiel shook her head.

“Unfortunately, no,” she said, and heard Drack let out a quiet growl before they began to head down.

As they got closer to the navpoint, Vetra and Drack both held out their arms to stop Cassiel from going forward.

“What?” she whispered, and Vetra pointed ahead, to where an eiroch was pacing the width of the Chasm. “Oh,” she muttered. “I don’t think we can get around that,” her companions shook their heads. “Great,” Cassiel sighed, pulling out her handgun while a blue field began to flicker around her, showing she was preparing to use her biotics.

“I don’t think that gun’s gonna do much, kid,” Drack chuckled, and Cassiel just scowled at him before charging at the eiroch with a yell. Drack and Vetra both froze, staring at the crazy human as the eiroch roared back at her. Cassiel wasted no time, propelling herself onto its back with the use of her jump jets. The eiroch roared again, running around and bucking to try to shake her off, but Cassiel held on, shooting its shoulders. When that didn’t do anything, she aimed her gun directly in the middle of its back, shooting it in the spine. The eiroch moaned pitifully before collapsing to the ground, Cassiel sliding off of its back with an ‘oof’. She looked over at Drack and Vetra, who were still frozen to the spot where she left them.

“Let’s go,” she prompted, causing them to shake themselves out of their stupor and follow her the rest of the way to the navpoint.

“That was crazy,” Vetra hissed when she caught up, and Cassiel giggled.

“I’m crazy,” she shot back, and Drack laughed as quietly as he could beside her. 

“The navpoint is 15 meters ahead,” SAM’s voice piped up in Cassiel’s head, and she nodded, able to see Taavos waiting under a vine. He pushed himself off from the wall on which he had been leading when he saw their party, approaching.

“Hello, alien,” he said in greeting, and Cassiel smiled awkwardly at him, pulling up her omnitool.

“Uh…  _ Ta gasaan evenaad lonaat canan? _ (I have technology for speak?)” she said, shaking her wrist which held the omnitool, and Taavos nodded, holding out his own. Cassiel stepped up to him, allowing the data to transfer.

“Did it work?” Drack asked, and Taavos looked over at him, startled.

“It worked,” he confirmed, eyeing the krogan with trepidation. “I will lead you to the monolith,” he announced abruptly, turning on his heel and beginning to walk through the ankle deep water. For Cassiel, the water was up to her knees, unfortunately.

“Listen, roekaar,” Vetra growled as they followed him. “You try anything, you’re dead,” she threatened, and Taavos nodded.

“I believe you,” he said. “While I still do not trust aliens, if I have to work with a couple to save my homeworld, so be it,” he explained, and Vetra nodded, satisfied.

* * *

Around half an hour later, the four of them arrived at the third monolith. Cassiel approached the console, activating it, but SAM piped up.

“There are glyphs missing from this,” he explained. “You will need to scan the area,” Cassiel sighed, looking around.

“How the hell do I find the glyphs?” she muttered.

“If you just aim your scanner around the walls of the monolith, they should be in the general vicinity,” SAM explained, and Cassiel nodded, activating her scanner and beginning to walk around, looking for the glyphs.

Once all the glyphs were found, she approached the console once more, activating it and beaming when they all heard a groaning noise.

“Yes!” she cheered. “We did it!” she turned to look at Vetra and Drack, the latter of which was shaking his head with a chuckle. 

“Oh, we’re not done yet, kid,” he said, and Cassiel groaned, remembering the vault.

“Fuck,” she muttered, looking down at herself. “I need a fucking shower, we can deal with the vault later,” she grumbled, but Vetra piped up.

“How are you going to explain the monolith to Colin?” she asked, and Cassiel cringed.

“Okay, vault first, shower and angry brother later,” she acquiesced, and they began making their way back to Havarl’s wilds, thankful for the beacon of light leading the way to the vault.


	15. XV: On to the Vault... Nope!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is pretty short... but cute!

Nothing was ever that easy. Especially when your boss was your older brother. Cassiel, Vetra, and Drack decided to stop at a forward station to resupply, since Vetra had used all of her flash bangs in the distraction.

“Oh fuck,” Cassiel muttered when they approached, seeing Colin, Peebee, and Jaal waiting for them. Colin had a scary scowl on his face, and Cassiel cringed as she approached. “Hey Colin…” she began, but he immediately glared at her and began to berate her.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Cass?” he demanded, and Cassiel flushed, her brows coming together in anger. She opened her mouth to reply, but froze when she noticed a fourth figure. Evfra was leaning against the forward station, muscular arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.

“Uh… well… you… um busy, so I… implant… and… gah!” she stuttered through trying to explain, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, doing everything in her power to ignore Evfra’s presence. When she opened her eyes, a new fire was in them and she was ready to tear her brother a new one. “Monoliths, Colin!” she shouted as her arms waved around, and her brother flinched at her sudden volume.

“I was getting there,” he muttered, and Cassiel’s eyes narrowed.

“Not fast enough!” she bit out. “The planet’s dying and you were taking your sweet ass time doing whatever you thought of and not making  _ any  _ progress towards why we came here in the first place!” Colin stared at her in shock, and Cassiel just crossed her arms over her chest with a glare.

“You could’ve said something…” Colin tentatively said, but Cassiel scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“And you would’ve said  _ I was getting there _ like you just did,” she countered.

“But-” at this point, Vetra cut Colin off.

“Ryder, all due respect, but maybe you should just try saying  _ thanks _ ,” she suggested, and Colin’s eyes narrowed further, but he didn’t say anything more.

“Yeah, we’ve been running around all day in this jungle, climbed up a cliff yesterday, and this crazy kid snuck into a Roekaar camp, show a little gratitude,” Drack piped up, and suddenly Evfra was very interested, pushing off of the forward station and approaching the group.

“You  _ what _ ?” he demanded, partially concerned with potential escalation with the Roekaar - Resistance relations, but mostly concerned about Cassiel’s safety.

“Uh…” Cassiel blushed a bit as she tried to calm him. “I mean… Vetra and Drack caused a distraction and I wasn’t seen by anyone except the commander, Taavos and-” Evfra cut her off.

“The  _ commander _ ?!” his voice raised a bit, and Cassiel cringed slightly.

“Yeah, he was the reincarnation of Zorai apparently and he put on this glove thing and remembered where the monolith was…” she explained, and both Evfra and Jaal’s eyes widened.

“Zorai?” Evfra gasped. “As in-” but Jaal cut him off with an excited smile.

“None of the Roekaar have the translator software as a principle… how did you communicate?” he asked, and Cassiel shrugged.

“I uh… spoke a bit of Shelesh and he was able to understand the general gist of what I said,” she explained, and Jaal grinned, pulling out his tool to send a message.

“Aarvos will be so proud!” he gushed, already typing out a message to the Daar Pelaav scientist. Cassiel rolled her eyes slightly at the purple angara.

“He  _ barely _ understood me,” she argued, but Jaal shook his head.

“But he  _ did _ understand you!” he shot back, and Cassiel just sighed. 

Colin huffed slightly after a moment, turning to Drack and Vetra.

“Give me a rundown of the past couple days,” he commanded, and they began to recount everything they had done with Cassiel. Peebee sighed, going off to scan some flora in the area, and Cassiel was left standing with Evfra and Jaal. She took in a deep breath, tilting her head up to meet Evfra’s gaze.

“So uh… how’s your head?” she asked awkwardly, and Evfra’s brow ridge pinched in confusion at the question. “From yesterday? With Mr. Tumnus?” she prompted, and Evfra’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, yes,” he cleared his throat slightly. “I’m fine,” Jaal smirked as he looked between the two of them. He turned and went to join Drack, Vetra, and Colin, and Cassiel’s eyes widened as she was left alone with the Resistance general. She found herself staring intently at the ground and shifting her weight from foot to foot in the awkward silence that followed. Surprisingly, Evfra was the one to break the silence.

“Why did you name him Mr. Tumnus?” he asked, and Cassiel’s eyes widened as she looked up at him. “It’s a very odd name,” Cassiel giggled.

“There are these old books that I absolutely adore, they’re about this magical land called Narnia,” she explained. “One of my favorite characters was named Mr. Tumnus,” Evfra hummed.

“What are these books called?” he asked, and Cassiel found herself smiling widely at his interest.

“The series is called Narnia, and the first book is  _ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe _ ,” she told him.

“Are they in any databases?” he asked, and Cassiel’s eyes widened.

“Of course!” she beamed. “I can send it to you, if you’d like, though I’m not sure you’d enjoy it…” she bit her a lip, and Evfra looked at her in confusion.

“Why not?” he asked, and Cassiel shrugged.

“I mean, there are a lot of Earth things that you wouldn’t recognize, and a lot of words probably won’t translate,” she explained, and Evfra scoffed.

“I’ll just ask you if I have questions,” he shrugged, and Cassiel felt her cheeks heating. She pulled up her tool and quickly sent Evfra the link to the first book of Narnia. His tool pinged, and he glanced at it with a brief smile before looking back at her.

“I really hope you like it!” she said. “But uh… it’s really long, so no hard feelings if you forget! It’s really time consuming to read!” she said, and Evfra chuckled slightly.

“I will find the time,” Cassiel swore her heart was going to explode if he kept smiling at her like that. 

Colin approached Cassiel once more, and she looked from Evfra to him.

“You should head back to the Tempest,” Cassiel giggled a bit, rolling her eyes.

“Colin, I’m going the vault,”

“No you’re not,” he immediately shot her down, but Cassiel’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“Try me,” she challenged, and the rest of the people around them watched as the Ryder siblings had a staredown. After a tense moment of silence, Colin sighed.

“I’ll go with you,” he relented, and Cassiel scoffed.

“Nope,” she denied. “Go back to whatever you were doing,” Colin grunted, but didn’t argue.

“I would like to accompany you,” Evfra piped up, wanting to see the inside of a vault, and Cassiel nodded.

“Alright,” she agreed, and Colin scoffed.

“Oh, so you’ll let him come?” he grumbled, and Cassiel rolled her eyes.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Why?” Colin challenged, and Cassiel sighed, he was acting like a child.

“Because he most likely won’t treat me like I’ll break,” she explained, and Colin groaned, but didn’t argue anymore after that. Cassiel turned to Evfra. “Are you ready to go now?” she asked, and he nodded, seemingly buzzing with excitement. It was admittedly odd to see the usually stoic Resistance General this way, but not in a bad way.

“Of course,” he responded, and Cassiel smiled.

“Then let’s go!” she cheered, and began to lead the way to the vault.


	16. XVI: Okay, Vault For Real This Time...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait! My laptop crapped out so I had to buy a new one!

Walking through Havarl’s jungle with Evfra wasn’t as awkward as Cassiel had originally anticipated. He mostly kept quiet, but he would occasionally point out things that were important.

“Challyrions,” he whispered, pulling Cassiel into a crouch and motioning for Drack and Vetra to do the same.

“How can you tell?” Cassiel whispered back, and Evfra pointed ahead of them.

“See that shimmering?” he asked, and Cassiel squinted, straining her eyes to see what he was talking about.

“Oooh,” she murmured when she saw it, small areas a bit ahead of them seemed to warp slightly. Evfra slid his sniper rifle from his shoulder silently, and nudged Cassiel out of the way. She moved and watched with rapt fascination as he sniped the group of 4 challyrions, her eyes flitting between Evfra’s focused face and the bodies of the challyrion, who’s camouflage stopped once they expired. “Wow,” she muttered, and Evfra awkwardly chuckled.

“It’s not difficult to spot, once you know what you’re looking for,” he explained to her, and Cassiel nodded gratefully, accepting his hand when he offered it to help her up.

It only took them half an hour to reach the entrance to the vault, and Cassiel groaned when she saw the rylkor pacing back and forth in front of it. It’s beady reptilian eyes were sweeping the area, as if it were waiting for them, and Cassiel nudged Drack.

“Hey,” she muttered, and he grunted in question. “I bet you fifty credits I can do the same thing I did with the eiroch this morning,” she said, and Drack laughed, shaking his head and pulling out his shotgun.

“You’re on, kid,” he agreed with a nod. “I’ll step in before you get yourself killed,” Cassiel scowled at him for that comment.

“What thing with an eiroch?” Evfra asked, and Cassiel just smirked at him, grabbing his firaan before he could react and leaving Drack to explain as she darted into the underbrush, working to get as close as she could to the rylkor. He barely even went to protest, only folding his arms and grumbling. “She better be planning to give that back,” he muttered, and Drack chuckled.

“Of course she is,” he confirmed. Evfra shot him a questioning glance, and Drack explained what she meant by ‘the thing with the eiroch’. “This morning there was an eiroch, and Vetra and I were getting ready to fight went that crazy son of a bitch charged the thing,” he explained, and Vetra nodded along. “She jumped on it’s back and rode it like it was nothing, and killed it with two shots from her pistol!” he laughed, and Evfra’s eyes widened, impressed. Vetra held up a hand.

“Well, she tried shooting its shoulders first, but then went for the spine,” she explained, and Evfra nodded before turning to the rylkor, keeping his eyes peeled for Cassiel’s attack.

“Where is she?” he muttered, and Drack shook his head.

“You’ll know,” he said, and Evfra scowled. 

Drack wasn’t wrong, however, because soon enough they heard a shout as Cassiel charged from the underbrush, straight for the rylkor. It let out a shriek of its own and began to charge her, turning for a tailwhip when it got close enough, but Cassiel had anticipated it, and she leapt into the air with the help of her biotics, landing solidly on the animal’s neck. It whipped its head back and forth, trying to throw her, but Cassiel simply plunged Evfra’s firaan through the back of its neck. An awkward gurgle came from its throat before it collapsed, Cassiel sliding off of its neck with an ‘oof’. Drack, Vetra, and Evfra all exitted the jungle to join her in the clearing, and Evfra stared at the girl in pure awe as she tugged his firaan out of the beast’s neck with a grunt of effort. She blushed, handing it back to him, and he took it silently, raising his brow ridge at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I got a bit overexcited,” Evfra shook his head, clearing his throat and looking away, glad none of the aliens could feel his field reach out to wrap around her possessively.

“It’s fine,” he grunted, and she smiled brightly at him before turning to Drack.

“Ha!” she shouted at the krogan. “You owe me fifty credits!” Drack groaned, throwing his head back.

“Damnit, Cass,” he grumbled. “You got too much quads for a human,” he said, and Cassiel grinned at him.

“I’ll take that as a compliment!” she countered, and Evfra’s face pinched in confusion.

“Quads?” he asked, and Vetra leaned closer to him to explain.

“It basically means she’s very courageous, to the point of being stupid,” she explained. “High praise coming from a krogan,” Evfra nodded in understanding at that.

They finally went down into the vault, and Cassiel did little to hide her excited grin at the gravity well. Evfra did his best to ignore her almost childlike excitement, but he couldn’t suppress the thought of how cute she looked.

When their feet touched the ground, Cassiel looked around, her brows furrowing as she looked at the consoles.

“So that looks like a door,” she said, pointing to the area of wall in front of them. Evfra, Vetra, and Drack all stood in the center of the room, looking around the vault in awe. She turned and walked up to the console in the middle of the room, activating it, and SAM spoke in her head.

“Back up power is online,” he said, and Cassiel nodded.

“So how do we get through this?” she murmured, both to herself and SAM. Before she could look around further however, everyone heard something to their left. They looked, and Cassiel groaned when she saw the three observers that appeared.

“Remnant!” she shouted, ducking behind a conveniently placed wall as cover, the others following suit. An observer that was kind of close to her began to fire up its laser, but before it could activate it, Cassiel stood from her cover and shot what she called its ‘eye’. The red light that had been swirling around it flickered, and Cassiel shot it again, before charging and doing a nova, causing it to spark and fall to the ground. Evfra was staring at her in awe as she did this.

“What is she doing?” he asked, shooting an observer that was across the room, and Vetra chuckled.

“Biotics,” she said as she lobbed a grenade at one. “Asaris and some humans have them, very useful in a fight,” she explained, and Evfra grunted in acknowledgement before shooting at the observer again.

“The consoles surrounding the area appear to be connected to the door,” SAM told her. “If you activate them, the door should open,” Cassiel nodded, going over to the closest console and activating it. A light appeared above the console, rotating and causing a line to connect it to the door. Cassiel went over to the next console, activating it, but the light that appeared above it only rotated halfway before reverting back, and she groaned in frustration when the line that had connected the first console disappeared.

“It appears you need to activate them in a certain order,” SAM told her, and she nodded in understanding, looking around. When she stepped up to the first console again, she startled when she noticed the pillar that had appeared.

“Oh,” she muttered, looking at it quizzically. “That’s cool,” she activated the first console once more before walking up the ramp to another one. This time, two pillars appeared, and Cassiel grinned. “Oh!” she exclaimed, and the others all looked at her in question. “I get it now!” she quickly activated this console, before running to the next one. This time four pillars appeared, so she walked by it to the other one, activating it when three pillars appeared. Finally, the fourth console was activated and the doors in front of them groaned open. Cassiel threw her hands up into the air with a large grin, looking between her three companions. “Yes!!” she cheered.

They all paused at the threshold, staring at a giant beam of light that was in the center of the room, if it could be called a room at all.

“Wow,” Cassiel muttered, staring at the vertical beam as it warped and twisted, the energy moving down further into the vault. She briefly wondered where it went. Did it go all the way to the planet’s core? 

“This console will activate the purification field,” SAM said as Cassiel walked further into the room. “You may want to sweep the area,” Cassiel nodded, motioning for Drack and Vetra to go around the beam on one side while she led Evfra on the other.

“Purification field?” Evfra asked, and Cassiel nodded, eyes sweeping the room as she explained it to him.

“On Eos, when Colin reset the vault it triggered a deadly purification field. They had to run back to the power console to stop it,” she explained, and Evfra grunted, looking at her in surprise.

“Really?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded.

“Uh… yeah,” she said, beginning to step towards the console. There was a liquid in a little divet in the ground, and Cassiel assumed it was just water, so she stepped through it to get to the console.

“Cassiel, wait!” Cassiel heard Vetra call a bit too late. The liquid splashed up her boots, and her entire body was wracked with searing pain. She let out a screech, and it felt as if her body was immobilized, she was trying to move to get out of the strange liquid, but her legs just weren't obeying her.

“Cassiel!” Evfra shouted, his hands wrapping around her waist and tugging her towards him and out of the liquid. She stumbled, and Evfra gently guided her into his chest. His hands stayed on her waist while she steadied herself, and Cassiel took several deep breaths, the pain dissipating. She could still feel slight tingles all over her body.

“Thank you,” she tilted her head up to look Evfra in the eye, and he just grunted, letting go of her waist and leading her to the panel. Cassiel briefly noted that he stayed between her and the liquid, and was kind of touched at his protectiveness. She glanced over at Vetra and Drack, who were both doing little to hide their snickers at her misfortune. Cassiel just shot them a glare, though at the sight of her scowl the two seemed to crack up even more. She rolled her eyes, stepping up to the panel, and looking to her companions.

“So if I’m right, this is gonna activate the purification field,” she said, and everyone tensed, getting ready to book it back to the other console.

“Affirmative,” SAM said, and Cassiel nodded.

“So you all should get to the door and be ready to haul ass,” she said, pointing back to the giant doors they had come through. Vetra immediately protested.

“What about you?” she asked, and Cassiel shook her head.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured them. “It’s just safer to have most of us by the door, less to worry about,” she held Vetra’s stare for a tense moment before the turian grunted, clearly displeased, and turned. She jogged back to the doors, Drack following her. Cassiel turned to Evfra, looking at him expectantly, but he shook his head, galactic eyes narrowing slightly.

“I’m staying with you,” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest, and Cassiel opened her mouth to argue, but his eyes just narrowed further. She closed her mouth, nodding, and hovered her hand over the console.

“Everybody ready?” she called out, seeing Evfra nod in her peripheral.

“Let’s do it!” Drack shouted back. Cassiel nodded, before tensing her hand. She wasn’t even sure how this allowed her to interact with the remnant tech, but it was as if when she tensed her hand above the console, a jolt of energy ran from her brain down her arm and into the tech.

The lighting around them turned red, and Cassiel and Evfra both booked it, hearing Vetra and Drack shouting for them.

“Come on!”

“Hustle!!”

Cassiel chanced a glance over her shoulder, seeing a dark cloud quickly closing in on them. Through the cloud she could see remnant bots emerging.

“Oh fuck!” she shouted, pushing her legs a bit more. Evfra was a couple meters ahead of her, but he seemed to notice she was falling behind, and he stopped. “Keep going!” she shouted, but as soon as she was within reach Evfra grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder with ease. “What the fuck?!” she shouted in surprise as Evfra began to run once more, past Vetra and Drack and up to the console.

The purification field was closing in, and Evfra set her down right next to the console. Cassiel had little time to be disgruntled about being picked up, instead she turned and activated the console. 

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the purification field retreated, taking the remnant bots with it. Drack laughed, and Vetra threw her arms in the air.

“Yes!” she cheered. Cassiel turned to Evfra, a scowl set on her face.

“What was that?” she demanded, and Evfra looked down at her, face twisted in faux confusion.

“What was what?” he countered, and Cassiel let out a growl of frustration.

“Why did you pick me up?” she asked, and Evfra’s shoulders shrugged minutely.

“You were going too slow,” he answered, and Cassiel’s scowl morphed into a pout. Her arms crossed over her chest.

“This isn’t fair,” she mumbled moodily. “My legs are shorter than all of yours,” Vetra and Drack laughed a bit at that, and even Evfra let out a chuckle. Cassiel tried very hard not to be distracted by the sound, but his laughter sent her souls to nirvana for a hot second before they slammed back into her body. “I mean… thanks,” she muttered to him, gaze cast downwards now, and Evfra chuckled once more, raising his arm as if he were about to rest his hand on her shoulder, before clenching his fist and lowering it once more.

“Lets… go,” she said, quickly going down to the gravity well and waiting for the others. Vetra and Drack were still laughing at her. Cassiel’s shoulders slumped as she activated the gravity well, the adrenaline wearing off, and suddenly she was exhausted. 

They walked a little out of the vault, before Cassiel practically collapsed on a rock, sitting down and hunching over.

“I just… need a minute,” she muttered, her eyelids drooping a bit, and Evfra crouched down next to her, concerned.

“Are you alright?” he asked, hands hovering anxiously as if he were ready to catch her if she collapsed. She nodded, her chin falling to rest on her chest.

“Yeah,” she answered, her tone airy. “Yeah, I’m just… sleepy,” she murmured.


	17. XVII: (Not So) Platonic Snuggles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm a day late...  
> Everything is fine.

Cassiel startled awake at the sound of an approaching shuttle.

“Wha-”

“I called in a shuttle,” Evfra said before she could freak out. “You’re in no state to walk back to Daar Pelaav,” he told her as the shuttle lowered to a clearish area nearby.

“I can walk,” Cassiel mumbled with a pout, going to stand and immediately tipping forward. Evfra was quick to catch her though, effortlessly crouching to pick her up and hold her against his chest in a bridal carry. He sighed at Cassiel’s pout.

“Of course you are,” he rose a brow ridge, and Cassiel’s pout faded as her eyes began to droop again. He jostled her a bit to try and keep her awake, and began to walk towards the shuttle. Vetra and Drack followed close behind, sharing looks as they watched the Resistance leader carry their deliriously tired friend.

Evfra carried Cassiel up the ramp onto the shuttle, but when he went to deposit her in one of the seats, the much smaller human latched onto him. He tried to pry her hands from where they had locked together behind his head, but she adamantly shook her head, eyes still squeezed shut.

“Warm,” she protested, and Evfra glanced over at Vetra and Drack with a helpless look. They just shrugged. Evfra tried one more time to get her to let go, but the human had a surprisingly strong grip. He sighed heavily, dropping into a seat and adjusting her so she was straddling his lap. Cassiel let out a happy hum as she snuggled her head into the gap between two of his chest protrusions. He scowled heavily, though Vetra and Drack, who were sniggering together in the seats across from him, were able to see how he fought the twitch of his lips holding back a smile.

Since Cassiel was so much smaller than Evfra, he was able to loop his arms around her to make sure she wouldn’t fall off, and he was still able to see his omnitool on his wrist over her head of auburn hair. He shot off a quick message to Jaal saying that they were on their way back to Daar Pelaav.

He didn’t see the turian in the group subtly raise her omnitool to snap a picture of the scowling Resistance General being snuggled by a sleepy Cassiel Ryder.

* * *

On the Tempest, Jaal and Colin were hanging out in the tech lab, speaking about the most random things.

“Wait, so you only have two siblings?” Jaal’s galaxy eyes were wide with shock. Colin shrugged.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “Humans don’t tend to have a lot of kids,” he explained. “I have my twin, Cody, and then Cassiel was born three years later,” Jaal’s face screwed up as if he were having trouble comprehending the concept.

“A single child?” he asked, and Colin’s brows raised.

“What?” he asked.

“Cassiel was the only one born then?” Jaal clarified, and Colin snorted.

“Yeah she was. Actually, Cody and I were the rare ones,” he told the confused angara. “Twins are rare for humans, and having more than two kids at a time is even more rare,” Jaal’s eyes were still wide. “How many angaran children are born at a time?” Colin asked, and Jaal shrugged.

“Single children are rare,” he explained. “Usually angara have anywhere from three to five children at a time,” Colin’s eyes widened.

“Wow,” he muttered. “Super moms,” Jaal laughed at that.

“Indeed,” he said, and went to continue, but his tool pinged. He quickly opened the message, seeing it was from Evfra.

_ To: Jaal ama Darav _

_ From: Evfra de Tershaav _

_ Subject: Vault Activated _

_ We have successfully activated the vault, and are currently on a shuttle back to Daar Pelaav.  _

_ -Evfra de Tershaav _

Jaal grinned.

“They did it!” he shouted, standing excitedly. Colin looked up at him, surprised.

“Who did what?” he asked, and Jaal grinned.

“Cassiel activated the vault!” he cheered, beginning to flit around the tech lab grabbing his gear. “They are on their way back now, we should meet them at Daar Pelaav!” he said, and Colin took his time standing up.

“That’s great!” he said, a grin of his own on his face. His own tool pinged, and his brows furrowed. “Huh?” Colin rose the omnitool, looking at the message, and was surprised to see a picture of Cassiel snuggled on Evfra’s lap on a shuttle. “Oh my god,” he muttered, and Jaal looked over curiously.

“What is it?” he asked, peeking over Colin’s shoulder. He grinned when he saw the contents of Vetra’s message. “Send that to me,” he sniggered, and Colin did so, forwarding the message to Jaal, who quickly forwarded it to the rest of the Tempest crew, and Evfra.

“She’s ridiculous,” Colin muttered, Jaal following him as he went to grab his own gear. Jaal made a confused noise. “She’s a friggin koala, I swear,” Jaal’s confusion was not abated.

“What is a… koo-ala?” he asked, and Colin chuckled.

“An earth animal, they’re really cuddly,” he said, and Jaal nodded in understanding.

“Ah,” he said. “I see,” a small smirk was on his face, pulling up the picture one more. Evfra’s scowl got funnier the longer he looked at it. It was clear that the General was not actually as put off as he was trying to portray in the picture.

“Okay,” Colin said as he finished fastening his chest plate. “Let’s go,”

* * *

Back on the shuttle, Evfra’s tool pinged. The human in his lap didn’t even stir, content right where she was. He lifted his tool to open the message, seeing it was from Jaal. His mouth dropped open into an ‘o’ shape when he saw the contents.

It was a picture of Cassiel and him on the shuttle. His eyes narrowed as he looked up at the turian across from him, who was avoiding his gaze, acting as if nothing was amiss. He heaved out a sigh, saving the photo and then closing his omnitool.

Cassiel mirrored his sigh, sinking further against him, and Evfra’s arms tightened around her as she shifted, afraid she would shift right off of him and onto the floor. Her face turned to the side, and from this angle he could see the soft grin on her face as she slept on his lap.

He tried to ignore how utterly adorable it was.

He failed.

A couple of minutes later, the shuttle touched down at Daar Pelaav, and Evfra began trying to figure out how to get up without making the whole situation awkward. Drack and Vetra chuckled as they got up and disembarked from the shuttle, running into Jaal and Colin on the way down.

“Where’s Cassiel?” Colin asked, and Vetra shrugged.

“Unconscious,” she answered vaguely, and Colin’s face immediately became worried. He raced the rest of the way up to the launch pad, running into the shuttle. He froze when he saw Cassiel.

She was in the same position as the picture pretty much, and Evfra was shifting uncomfortably, obviously trying to figure out how to get up. Jaal was right behind Colin, and 

Evfra looked up at them as they entered. Jaal opened his mouth to say something, but Evfra let out what sounded suspiciously like a growl.

“Not a word,” he uttered dangerously to his subordinate, and Jaal chuckled. Colin just rolled his eyes at his koala-like little sister.

Evfra, uncomfortable with all the staring, shifted once more, but he froze when Cassiel stirred groaning softly.

“Huh?” she mumbled, snuggling further into Evfra, who she seemed to think was just any other pillow. Her face nuzzled into his neck, and Evfra cursed his field as he began to  _ aranjj _ . Jaal and the pilot both felt it, and began sniggering. Colin and Cassiel were both none the wiser to the angara’s field, but Cassiel could hear the laughing. Grumpy at being woken up, she shifted again.

“Who the fuck is laughing?” she mumbled, pushing off of Evfra and opening her eyes to small slits. Her brows pinched together in confusion at the blur of blue in front of her. She opened her eyes wider, and let out a rather undignified squeak as Evfra came into focus. She launched herself off of his lap and crashed onto the floor. “OH SHIT I’M SO SORRY!” she shouted, her cheeks flaming. Colin burst out laughing, and Cassiel’s cheeks heated up even more. “Sorry,” she said again, before scrambling up and booking it out of the shuttle, eager to get as far away from the embarrassing situation as possible.

Evfra blinked slowly, staring at where Cassiel had been in his lap, before slowly turning his head to look at the open hatch of the shuttle, where she had sprinted away. Jaal joined Colin in his laughter.

“That went well,” he said, and Evfra’s eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at Jaal.

Cassiel pulled up her tool as she went down the stairs, sending a message to Aarvos.

_ To: Aarvos Kjeer _

_ From: Cassiel Ryder _

_ Subject: [blank] _

_ Are you still at Daar Pelaav? _

She sent it as she approached the door to the main lab, and her tool pinged just as the door swished open, and all of a sudden a green blur was flying past her and up the stairs.

“Shit!” she muttered, following him back up the stairs. “SAM, what did that message say?” she asked.

“Aarvos said yes, he is at Daar Pelaav,” the AI answered, and Cassiel huffed out a scoff as she reached the launch pad again, seeing Mr. Tumnus. Sitting right next to Evfra, who was standing just outside the shuttle with Colin and Jaal. She sighed.

“Mr. Tumnus!” she called, and the flanjaak had the gall to look ashamed, his ears drooping as he leaned against Evfra, who unconsciously scratched behind his horns. “You were supposed to stay with Aarvos!” she scolded, her hands on her hips, and Mr. Tumnus widened his eyes, giving her the Andromeda Puppy Eyes™. She sighed as Evfra continued to give him scritches, and turned when she heard panting behind her.

Aarvos was at the top of the stairs, his hands braced on his thighs as he panted.

“Sorry,” he breathed out. “He was just… so… excited,” he groaned, taking in huge breaths. As if sensing the pet-mom-fury he was about to be on the receiving end of, he quickly held up a small object. Cassiel’s brows furrowed together.

“What’s that?” she asked, and Aarvos handed it to her.

“It’s a wind-up Pyjak I got for Mr. Tumnus at my daar,” Cassiel melted at that, and she gave the angaran scientist a quick hug.

“Awe, thank you!” she said, giving him a squeeze before letting him go. She observed the wind up pyjak, smiling as Mr. Tumnus lifted his head to regard the toy with interest.

“Flanjaaks actually learn how to wind the toys up themselves,” Aarvos explained, and Cassiel yawned, nodding.

“Thank you,” she mumbled again. “Come on Mr. Tumnus!” she called, her eyes beginning to droop once more. She was very clearly still exhausted from the day’s events. She turned around to walk back to the Tempest, but instead of walking down the stairs she found herself walking straight into a solid chest with an ‘oof’. Her neck tilted, allowing her to see who she had run into. Cassiel cringed to herself when her eyes met those of Evfra.

“Sorry!” she squeaked out, awkwardly stumbling around him and down the stairs. Evfra opened his mouth to call after her, though he found he had no idea what to say, and promptly closed his mouth once more. Mr. Tumnus looked between Evfra and her for a second before finally following his human down the stairs and towards the Tempest. When he caught up to her, the flanjaak was sure to walk very close to her, paying close attention and making sure she was still conscious.

* * *

Colin watched Cassiel stumble her way down the stairs with a small smirk on his face. He turned to Jaal and Evfra, who were also both staring at her.

“It’s the height,” he said after a moment, and they both made noises of confusion, turning to look at him quizzically.

“What?” Jaal asked while Evfra just looked at Colin expectantly.

“Cassiel’s always had a thing for tall guys,” Colin shrugged his shoulders, before leaving the two angaran men together and making his way back to the Tempest. As he caught up to Cassiel, he turned to look back at them over his shoulder and shot them a wink.

Jaal chuckled, turning to Evfra, but the General just glared at him, holding a hand up.

“Not. A. Word,” he muttered, shouldering past Jaal, who smirked to himself.

* * *

Later that evening back on the Tempest, Cassiel had just woken from her nap and stumbled into the galley. Drack and Vetra were sitting in the small ship’s kitchen, and when they saw her they both burst out into teasing laughter. Cassiel scowled, making her way to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of juice.

“Shut up,” she muttered to them.

“It was cute!” Vetra argued, giggling to herself. Drack nodded in agreement. “You looked so tiny curled up on him like that!” Cassiel whipped around with a glare so cold it could have reversed global warming in the 21st century.

“Don’t call me that,” she warned, voice low. Drack chuckled.

“What, cute?” Cassiel shook her head.

“Don’t call me tiny,” Drack burst out into loud laughter at that.

“Sore spot, huh squirt?” he asked, and Cassiel pouted, turning away from them to gulp down some juice. As they continued to laugh, Cassiel left the galley.

“I need a shower,” she muttered, trying her best to ignore her teammates.


	18. XVIII: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took me so long! This past month I've been soooooo uninspired but I'm back!

As Cassiel exited the shower, Colin’s voice rang around the Tempest.

“Alright, we leave for Voeld in an hour or so, get ready!” he announced, and Cassiel’s eyes widened.

“Fuck!” she muttered, almost slipping on the tile floor as she frantically threw on her clothing. After looking around to make sure no one had seen her blunder, Cassiel raced out of the bathroom and down the hall, racing through the nomad bay and down the Tempest ramp. Mr. Tumnus, who had been in the nomad bay, trotted after her when he saw her rush past. 

“Where are you going?” Liam called after her.

“I gotta say goodbye!” she responded over her shoulder, patting Mr. Tumnus when he caught up to her.

When Cassiel and her flanjaak companion reached Daar Pelaav, they immediately went into the main building. As expected, Aarvos was there, as well as Kiraan.

“Cassiel!” he stood from his station when he saw her, walking over and giving her a hug. “I didn’t get to say earlier, congratulations on activating the vault!” Cassiel smiled brightly at him.

“Thanks,” she chirped. “And um… actually,” Aarvos pulled back with a frown at the apprehensive tone in Cassiel’s voice. “Since the vault is all in working order now, Colin wants to get moving on to Voeld,” she said, and Aarvos pulled her back in for another, tighter hug.

“So you’re leaving?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded into his chest. Aarvos let out a displeased noise, pulling away again. “Well, goodbye then, Cassiel,” he muttered, and Cassiel gave him a sad smile. Mr. Tumnus took his opportunity to trot up to Aarvos and rub against him. The angara smiled at the flanjaak and gave him some soft pats on the top of his head.

“We’ll still keep in touch though!” Cassiel assured him, and Aarvos’ sad expression morphed into a teasing smirk.

“Oh, we must!” he agreed. “I need to be kept updated on developments between you and Evfra!” Cassiel’s eyes widened as she sputtered.

“Wh-what?! What’re you talking about?” her cheeks were flaming red, and Aarvos sniggered. “Aarvos!” Cassiel whined, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. He just continued to smirk, before he straightened up.

“Speaking of…” he began, and Cassiel’s brows pinched together in confusion.

“What?” she asked.

The door behind them opened with a _swish_ and Cassiel turned to see who was walking in. Evfra walked in, a datapad in his hand had his avid attention, but when he glanced up from the datapad and saw Cassiel standing with Aarvos, he froze.

“Cassiel,” he muttered, as if to himself, and Cassiel blushed.

“H-hi,” she murmured to him. Aarvos was sniggering behind her, and Cassiel subtly stepped back and stomped on his foot. He hissed at her, but she ignored him. “Um… we’re off to Voeld, so I’m just saying some goodbyes,” she explained, and Evfra’s brow ridge raised in interest.

“Oh, of course,” he grunted, trying and failing to pretend that he didn’t really care. Cassiel grinned.

“I mean, I’m sad to leave Havarl, it’s beautiful! But I’m super excited for Voeld!” she cheered, and Evfra’s head tilted much like a confused dog.

“Really?” he asked, disbelief in his tone. “Most people are loath to set foot on Voeld,” he said, and Cassiel scoffed.

“They’re wimps,” she said, and Evfra’s eyes widened in shock at her declaration. Was she saying people who didn’t want to deal with the kett were wimps? Cassiel blushed, immediately going to fix her error. “I mean! Um… I just really love the cold… and snow! I love snow! I didn’t mean… yeah,” she shrugged, averting her gaze, and Aarvos sniggered again. 

“Fitting,” he said from behind her, and Cassiel’s face pinched in confusion, she tilted her head up to look at Aarvos.

“What do you mean?” she asked, and a smirk appeared on Aarvos’ face.

“Voeld is Evfra’s homeworld,” he winked one of his galaxy-like eyes at her, but Cassiel didn’t see his teasing. She was already whipping around to face Evfra again.

“Do you like snow too?” she asked with an excited grin, and Evfra tilted his head down to meet her eyes. He almost looked lost.

“Of course I like snow,” he scoffed, as if even the idea that he wouldn’t like the staple feature of his homeworld was ridiculous. Cassiel’s grin widened.

“Awesome!” she cheered, and Evfra still looked entirely lost. “Most humans, and a lot of the other initiative species _hate_ the cold,” she explained, and Evfra nodded in understanding.

“I see,” he muttered.

Cassiel jumped when her tool pinged.

“Oh!” she gasped, lifting her wrist to take a look at the message on the screen.

**Colin: Where are you?**

“It’s Colin, I have to go!” she said, frowning a bit. “I’ll see you around!” she chirped, turning to give Aarvos another hug before trotting over the Evfra and giving him one as well. It was an unconscious movement, and before Cassiel really realized she was hugging _Evfra_ her arms were around his waist. She froze, going to pull away, but large, muscular arms encircled her much smaller form and squeezed her slightly.

“Goodbye,” he said to her, voice incredibly soft. Cassiel pulled away with a shy grin, before she heard a cough. She turned to shoot a glare at Aarvos, who was looking around as if he were the picture of innocence.

“Um… goodbye,” she murmured, before booking it out of the research lab and back across the bridge. Mr. Tumnus followed after her with a confused chirp, rubbing against Evfra before he was out the door.

* * *

Back on the Tempest, after the Tempest had departed from Havarl, Cassiel was finally fixing the steering mechanism on the nomad. She paused as she checked a switch under the wheel, glancing around the nomad’s bay.

“Um… SAM?” she called. “Where is everyone else?” she asked.

“Lieutenant Harper is in the plant lab, Peebee is in the escape pod, Gil, Drack, and Liam are in the crew’s quarters, Suvi, Vetra, and Kallo are on the bridge, and Colin and Jaal are in the tech lab,” he answered her, and Cassiel let out a breath.

“Thank you,” she said to him, before darting over to a crate pushed to the side behind one of the work benches. She quickly pried the lid off of the crate, depositing it to the side with a grunt at the weight. Cassiel reached in, having to stand on her tiptoes to reach all the way into the crate, and pulled out a smooth white case, a little shorter than her arm and the width of her wrist. She set it on the ground before kneeling in front of it, hands going to the seal, before she paused. She looked over her shoulder, making sure that there was still no one who would see her, before opening the case just an inch, so she could make sure the contents were all intact.

Inside lay the body of a sniper rifle, with a scope and an extending barrel packed in as well. Cassiel sighed, snapping the case shut again and making her way back over to the nomad.

The center console was designed for transporting weapons, the nomad being a military vehicle. It was actually more of a compartment that went behind the front two seats and spanned the length of the nomad. Because of this Cassiel was able to slide the case down into the bottom of the compartment. After she did this, she walked back over to the crate and pulled out a sleek black panel that happened to match the inside of the rest of the compartment. She slid that down to cover the case, before sighing.

“Alright, now I can cover them,” she muttered to herself, jumping at the voice that sounded behind her.

“What was that?” she whipped around to see Jaal staring at her quizzically.

“Huh?” she asked eloquently. Jaal’s head tilted, face pinched in confusion.

“What did you say?” he asked, and Cassiel shook her head.

“Oh uh… nothing! Just talking to myself!” she giggled nervously, hoping Jaal hadn’t seen her with the panel.

* * *

_“You need what?” the turian in the machine shop had asked, looking at her skeptically._

_“I need a black panel, two meters by half a meter,” Cassiel repeated, holding out a note with the specifics scribbled out on it._

_“Uh… why?” he asked, and Cassiel’s face pinched. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other nervously._

_“I can’t tell you,” she said, and his mandibles clicked as he narrowed his eyes at her. “No really!” she insisted. “It’s for the Tempest, I’m on the Pathfinder team, but its use is classified!” she said, the bullshit spewing out of her mouth. The turian still looked skeptical._

_“I don’t know…” he started, but Cassiel cut him off._

_“Look, I know I’m not the Pathfinder but he’s got a lot of shit to get done so he sent me to get this, so I’d really appreciate it if you could just take the order!” she pressed, and he sighed, raising his hands in the ‘I surrender’ motion._

_“Alright, alright!” he acquisced. “I’ll make your panel!” he grunted, snatching the piece of paper from her hand._

_“Thank you!” Cassiel chirped, transferring the credits to him before skipping out of the machine shop._

* * *

“Ah, yes,” Jaal nodded, his face smoothing out. “I’ve noticed you Meel-key Way species tend to do that,” he acknowledged. Cassiel scoffed.

“Not just us!” she argued back. “I’ve heard Aarvos muttering to himself plenty of times!” she said, and Jaal shrugged.

“Okay, maybe it is not just you aliens,” he acquiesced, and Cassiel sniggered slightly.

“So what’s up?” she asked, and Jaal stood straighter.

“Oh, yes!” as if he had just realized he had come down to the nomad bay for a reason. “I heard you were working on the steering mechanism again, and was wondering if I could be of any use?” he asked, and Cassiel grinned at him.

“Of course!” she agreed. “I could always use an extra pair of hands!” she waved for him to come over. He walked over to her, an excited look on his face.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed. “I can’t wait to learn more about your tech!” Cassiel nodded. 

“I’ll explain what we’re doing as we go, alright?” Jaal nodded thankfully. Cassiel smiled at him before pulling out a rolling board for them to lay on as they worked under the nomad. “Let’s get to it!”

* * *

A little later, Cassiel was standing next to Jaal as he tweaked a few things in the engine.

“Okay, now twist that knob-no, the other one-yeah that one, until you heard a click,” _click_. “Good, now flip that switch,” Jaal nodded, doing as he was told. Cassiel grinned at him. “And that’s it!” she cheered. “We’re done!” Jaal looked up at her in surprise.

“Really?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded.

“Yeah, we even got some extra stuff done,” she told him, and a mirroring grin appeared on Jaal’s face.

“Wonderful!” he cheered, before seeming to remember something. “Oh! Earlier I got a message from Aarvos…” he started, and Cassiel raised her eyebrows for him to continue. He didn’t.

“And…?” she prompted, and Jaal smirked, a teasing glint in his eyes now.

“Apparently you and Evfra have gotten even closer!” he said, and Cassiel blushed, sputtering.

“Wh-what? What do you mean? What did he say?” she demanded, and Jaal sniggered.

“You hugged him!” he said, and Cassiel’s face smoothed out, the tension leaving her body.

“Oh, yeah,” she shrugged. “That’s not a big deal though,” she said, and Jaal raised his brow ridge at her disbelievingly. “It’s not!” she insisted. “Angara hug all the time, right?” Jaal nodded.

“We do,” Cassiel raised her arms as if to say ‘my point!’. “But-” Cassiel’s shoulders slumped. “Not Evfra,” he said, and Cassiel tensed once more.

“Should I not have hugged him?” she asked, worriedly. “Did I make him uncomfortable?” Jaal shook his head.

“No!” he was quick to assure her. “He hugged you back!” he said, and Cassiel relaxed once more, smiling softly as she remembered how warm he was.

“He did,” she agreed, and Jaal nodded.

“He doesn’t hug people! But he hugged you!” he insisted, and Cassiel rolled her eyes.

“Probably doesn’t wanna offend me or something, angara-nexus relations and shit,” she excused, and Jaal scoffed, shaking his head but otherwise saying nothing more on the subject.


	19. XIX: Let's Build a Snowman!

“Entering atmo now,” Suvi announced, and Cassiel bounced on the balls of her feet, grasping Colin’s arm excitedly.

“Do you wanna build a snowman?” she asked him, and he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“You wanna build a snowman in a dangerous blizzard?” he challenged, and Cassiel pouted.

“Maybe?” Colin chuckled, reaching up to ruffle her hair as Kallo landed the Tempest.

“WOW!” the ship jerked suddenly, one of the supports sinking a bit into the snow, and Kallo shot up.

“It’s fine!” he exclaimed. “We’re fine!”

“You sure?” Colin asked teasingly. “Want us to get out and push?” Kallo shot him an unimpressed look.

“Ha. Ha.” he deadpanned, and Colin chuckled, turning to get to the Nomad bay. Cassiel followed behind him, the two already geared up, but when the ramp lowered, Colin held up a hand in front of Cassiel’s chest, stopping her from going ahead with him, Jaal, and Liam.

“What?” she whined, and Colin shot her a look.

“Wait until I can establish a forward station,” he said, and Cassiel pouted at him, widening her eyes in hopes that he would let her come along. “Come down with the Nomad,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest with a glare, and Cassiel mirrored his posture, glaring right back at him. He narrowed his eyes, and Cassiel sighed.

“Fine,” she muttered, turning and hauling herself up to sit on the Nomad’s hood. “Be quick about it,” Colin sniggered, turning and heading down the ramp to catch up to the others. He waved at Cassiel, to which she held up her middle finger.

After the ramp closed, the Tempest shook as Kallo brought them back up into orbit.

* * *

A little less than half an hour later, Colin deployed a forward station. Cassiel’s tool pinged with the notification, and she grinned, hopping in the Nomad.

“You sure you want to actually be  _ in _ the nomad while it’s deployed?” Gil asked skeptically, one eyebrow raised, and Cassiel nodded excitedly.

“Yeah!” she confirmed, and Gil grimaced, but pushed the button to lower the ramp. The mechanisms locking the Nomad in place while in flight released, and it began to roll back. Cassiel’s eyes widened.

“Wait how am I supposed to land this?” she asked worriedly, to which Gil only laughed. She looked around frantically, relaxing when she saw the forward station lift off the ground and follow the Nomad out of the Tempest, engaging a magnetic field to keep the Nomad below it while it dropped to the surface. “Thanks for the warning, Gil,” she muttered into her comm, hearing the tail ends of his laughter in reply.

“How did you expect this to happen?” he asked, to which Cassiel had no proper answer.

“Uh…” she elected not to answer, instead looking around as the Nomad was dropped down with the forward station. The blizzard that had been present when they had first arrived had calmed a bit, and she was actually able to see the snowy landscape. In the distance, she could make out a large kett structure built into the side of a mountain, and she grimaced at the sight.

Before long, the Nomad was dropped to the ground in front of a waiting Colin, Jaal, and Liam. They all grinned, getting into the Nomad. Colin got into the passenger seat, while Jaal and Liam got into the back.

“Time to see that F2 driving in action!” Liam cheered excitedly, and Cassiel smirked a bit, turning to Colin.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Hjara station,” he replied, gesturing in some general direction where there was sort of a path. “It’s that way somewhere,” Cassiel rose her brows, unimpressed.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of shit ‘that way somewhere’ Colin,” she said, but before she could strangle her older brother, SAM piped up.

“I can guide you, Cassiel,” the AI said, and Cassiel breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, SAM,” she said, glaring at her brother out of the corner of her eyes. “At least someone is useful,” before Colin could protest her statement, Cassiel shifted the Nomad and pressed the gas, allowing them to shoot forward along the icy path. Luckily, there were red blinking markers every couple of meters that guided Cassiel for the first bit of the way, but eventually they got down to an open plain of ice, and the markers stopped.

“Where to now, SAM?” she asked, and there was a pause.

“Continue heading in the direction you are pointing across the ice field,” he instructed, and Cassiel nodded, shifting the Nomad to the gear with more traction and beginning to make her way across the field.

After a couple minutes of driving, Cassiel could make out some dark shapes ahead of them.

“There is a kett encampment ahead,” SAM announced, and Cassiel groaned, slowing the Nomad to a stop.

“Is there a way around?” she asked.

“Negative, life support would deplete before reaching Hjara station on the alternative route,” SAM said, and Cassiel groaned again, looking around.

“Okay, I can work with this,” she said, continuing to drive forward.

“Uh… Cass?” Colin asked nervously. “What’re you do-woah!” he gasped as Cassiel suddenly veered to the left, going up a hill a little.

“Everyone ready?” she asked, bringing them to right above the kett camp, who had yet to see them.

“I guess?” Colin said.

“Hell yeah!” Liam cheered, and Jaal just nodded. Cassiel shifted back to the gear with less traction, pressing her foot all the way down on the gas and making the Nomad speed down the hill. A group of kett who happened to be right in her way looked up just in time to be rammed into, and their bodies were sent flying. Cassiel was proud to see that some of them didn’t get back up.

“All you guys!” she announced, and the other three quickly exited the Nomad, cold air hitting all of them as they began to fire at the remaining kett.

It ended up taking all of 3 minutes before the last kett was sent flying by a powerful nova, courtesy of Colin. The ground team all piled back into the Nomad, the humans shivering while Jaal remained unaffected by the cold.

“Okay, Hjara station here we come!” Cassiel announced as their doors closed, and then she was pulling out of the kett camp and continuing across the ice field.

* * *

Around 20 minutes later, they finally reached their destination. Cassiel smiled, opening her door, but Colin stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Stay with the Nomad,” Cassiel frowned, going to protest. “Please?” she sighed, but slumped back into her seat and closed her door once more while the others all made their way into the station. She pulled up her tool, shooting a message to Aarvos.

**Cassiel: So how’s it going without my wonderful self to amuse you?**

She didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

**Aarvos: Amazingly, we are actually getting work done!**

**Aarvos: And while I would love to speak with you, I am actually going over some very important numbers right now, perhaps you should message Evfra?**

Cassiel blushed at the suggestion, but pulled up Evfra’s contact anyway.

**Cassiel: So how’s Narnia going?**

While waiting for him to reply, Cassiel pulled up Lexi’s contact, checking in on Mr. Tumnus. After a moment, the doctor replied.

**Lexi: Mr. Tumnus had been chasing his toy around quite contently, but now he has convinced Drack to play with him**

**[Lexi T’Perro has attached a video]**

Cassiel grinned, opening the video and giggling as she watched Mr. Tumnus wag his tail, excitedly pouncing on Drack, who at first shoved the flanjaak away. Her sweet boy was persistent, however, being mindful of his horns as he headbutted Drack, who after a moment growled and whipped around, beginning to grapple with Mr. Tumnus. Cassiel could hear Lexi’s soft laughter from behind the camera as Drack allowed Mr. Tumnus to wrestle him to the ground, his front four legs on top of Drack’s chest piece while the back two were supporting him on the ground.

After the video ended, Cassiel’s tool pinged with a message from Evfra, and she grinned, going to open it, but was sidetracked when the doors to the Nomad opened, the ground team piling in once more. She grimaced, dropping her tool and looking at Colin expectantly.

“There’s someone with important intel trapped at a kett labor camp,” he explained. “We’re going to rescue him and whoever else is trapped there,” Cassiel nodded, shifting the Nomad into gear and pulling back, before pausing.

“Uh… which way?” she cringed.

“Head northward,” SAM instructed her, and Cassiel nodded, looking around and trying to figure out which way north was. “Your left,” SAM helped her after a moment, and Cassiel nodded, a slight pink to her cheeks as she turned that way and began to drive to the kett labor camp.

It only took around 10 minutes to reach the labor camp, and Cassiel allowed the Nomad to roll to a stop just outside.

“Are they… in those cages?” she asked, squinting at the bright orange containers scattered around the camp, and Jaal nodded.

“They keep prisoners in individual cells scattered around to decrease the likelihood of escape,” he explained, and Cassiel grimaced.

Colin opened his door, turning to Liam and Jaal.

“Ready?” he asked, to which they both nodded. “Let’s go!” and he was flinging open his door and booking it to the kett facility, Liam and Jaal only a few steps behind him. As soon as they had slammed their doors shut, Cassiel was swinging back to grab the sniper rifle she had installed in the central panel. She pressed the button to make the sunroof on the Nomad open, and then grabbed the sniper rifle and stood. Quickly assembling it, she looked down the scope.

A kett was trying to make its way around the team, approaching Liam from behind. Cassiel took in a deep breath, focusing on him, and as she blew out squeezed the trigger.

The recoil startled her momentarily, it had been so long since she had fired a sniper, but she was happy to see her shot land right in the kett’s skull, an icky green-yellow substance flying everywhere. Cassiel quickly scanned the area, looking for any more targets. Colin had reached the first containment field, and a heavily armored kett was approaching him with a large gun raised. Liam and Jaal were occupied a little ways down the ramp, and Cassiel gasped, firing at the kett. It staggered forward with her first hit, which had gone into its left shoulder blade. Cassiel’s eyes narrowed as she fired again, hitting its neck. The kett collapsed to its knees, dropping the gun and bringing its clawed hands to its neck where she had hit. The orange containment field began to open as Cassiel reloaded her rifle, and Colin whipped around, smashing the kett’s head with his krogan hammer. Cassiel let out a puff of air in relief as she snapped the clip in, watching as the angara who had been in the cage scrambled to grab the downed kett’s gun and Colin ran off to open the next cage. Liam and Jaal followed after him, and Cassiel kept her scope swinging around the escaped angara, making sure no kett were around trying to attack him. 

The angara fumbled with the heavy gun, trying to lift it and failing. She planted her feet, trying again only for it to clatter back to the icy ground. The purple angara raised her head, looking around for another weapon, and began running towards one of the smaller kett Liam and Jaal had dealt with earlier. As she did so, however, one of the others on the ground, who was apparently not as dead as everyone had thought, raised his gun and pointed it at the woman. Cassiel’s eyes widened, and she was quick to aim and pull the trigger, shooting the kett’s hand and causing the gun to go flying. It let out a scream of agony that Cassiel could hear all the way from the Nomad over the gunfire, and she cringed, shooting it once more in the head. The angaran woman startled, looking around and seeing Cassiel’s figure sticking out of the Nomad. She grabbed a gun, this one much easier to pick up, and waved at Cassiel in thanks before following after Colin.

* * *

After the angara they had come for had been freed, and Colin was placed in charge of a drive holding some very important information, they drove back to Hjara station. Colin, Liam, and Jaal hopped out once more, leaving Cassiel with instructions to stay in the vehicle. She sighed, relaxing back into the seat, before startling, remembering that she had a message from Evfra that she had yet to read. She quickly pulled up her tool, smiling as she opened Evfra’s contact.

**Evfra: Narnia is going well, though I cannot figure out what a faun is. All the articles I have found are very confusing.**

Cassiel giggled, typing out a quick explanation.

**Cassiel: A faun has the the upper body of a human, and the legs of a goat. Picture a flanjaak’s legs on a human torso**

Cassiel was surprised when Evfra responded almost immediately, jumping at the  _ ping _ from her tool.

**Evfra: What’s the point of that?**

Cassiel hummed, thinking on that for a moment. What  _ was  _ the point of mythical creatures? She hadn’t really thought of that until now, growing up in a culture with many, many mythical creatures. The whole genre of fantasy, even! She wasn’t really sure what their point was except…

**Cassiel: Fun. Fantasy gives us fantastical creatures and epic battles that inspire us and let us escape our own reality!**

She hummed absentmindedly to herself as she waited for him to reply, looking up and seeing Colin talking to a bright blue angaran woman right outside a building. He looked like he was wrapping things up. Cassiel almost jumped in surprise when she realized what she was humming. A Disney song. That part wasn’t surprising, Disney movies were all the Ryder siblings’ guilty pleasures. What was surprising, however, was that it was  _ I Won’t Say I’m In Love _ from Hercules. Her cheeks heated up, and Cassiel found herself glad that nobody was around to witness the blush on her cheeks. She giggled at herself, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of having feelings for Evfra.

**Cassiel: You know, you should watch Hercules, it’s an animated Disney vid**

Cassiel hit send on the message before she could doubt whether or not she should. After a minute, Cassiel looked up to see Colin walking towards the Nomad. Her tool  _ ping _ ed.

**Evfra: I found it on a database.**

**I don’t think I would understand any of it**

**Cassiel: Then next shore leave on Aya I’ll have to watch it with you and explain it!**

She hit send just as Colin opened his door. She sent him a smile, starting up the Nomad’s engine.

“So?” she asked, and Colin shrugged.

“You, Vetra, and Drack can do the monoliths tomorrow if you want,” he offered, and Cassiel beamed.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he sighed as if greatly put upon, and Cassiel giggled, giving him an awkward side hug, maneuvering around the gear shift in between them.


	20. XX: No Chance, No Way, I Won't Say It

It was a rare, treasured slow day at Resistance HQ on Aya. There were no major missions for Evfra to supervise, his usual heaping pile of reports to finish was almost depleted, and the only “pressing” thing he had to do was approve some sort of festival for morale Paaran Shie wanted to throw. He signed off on it with a grimace, knowing that she would incessantly bug him to attend despite everyone knowing he was never one for parties.

His tool pinged, and Evfra raised his wrist and was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Jaal. 

**Jaal: Cassiel just killed 4 kett with our ground transport, there was a camp we couldn’t get around in time for life support so she drove down a hill straight into a group of kett!**

Evfra’s eyes widened as he read the message, for a moment being concerned about the recklessness of the action, before remembering that everyone on the squad was capable of combat, and since Jaal had messaged him everyone was alright, at least he hoped so. He found himself being begrudgingly impressed. He looked up when he noticed a couple of curious fields nudging at his own, and he scowled, pulling his own field back in close to his body like a second skin. He typed out a response to Jaal.

**Evfra: I am assuming everyone survived this excursion?**

He didn’t need to wait long for a reply.

**Jaal: No one was hurt**

**Evfra: Good.**

Around 20 minutes later, Evfra’s tool pinged once more. He raised his wrist, and nearly jumped in surprise seeing the name accompanying the message. He quickly opened it.

**Cassiel: So how’s Narnia going?**

Evfra allowed one corner of his lips to quirk up in a small smile as he began to type out a reply.

**Evfra: It is amazing! I have never read a story like this where children have so much responsibility! And the talking animals! It is incredibly different but in the best way!**

Evfra’s fingers hovered over the  _ send _ button, before he scowled and erased the whole of his message. He was gushing like a child. He typed out a more tempered reply.

**Evfra: Narnia is going well, though I cannot figure out what a faun is. All the articles I have found are very confusing.**

This was a lie. He had spent an hour that morning researching what a faun was and had eventually pieced it together after reading all sorts of different interpretations and looking at different images. He just couldn’t think of anything else to say that didn’t make him seem like a naïve young boy.

He sat waiting for a couple moments, though moments turned into minutes and eventually he began to go through the miniscule 10 remaining reports he had to do for the day. They were all relatively simple, and as he was pulling up the last one almost an hour later, he jumped when his tool pings. He took no pride in how quickly and eagerly he opened Cassiel’s message

**Cassiel: A faun has the the upper body of a human, and the legs of a goat. Picture a flanjaak’s legs on a human torso**

Evfra hummed, realizing for the first time that an Earth goat’s legs looked almost identical to a flanjaak, except instead of green and blue fur they had brown, white, and black fur.

**Evfra: What’s the point of that?**

This was something he hadn’t found during his research. It took another minute or so for Cassiel to respond.

**Cassiel: Fun. Fantasy gives us fantastical creatures and epic battles that inspire us and let us escape our own reality!**

He found the response cute, in its own way. Storytelling was a tradition across species, after all, and everyone did it to escape reality in some form. But boiling its purpose all down into one word: ‘fun’ was something he hadn’t anticipated. In fact, he found himself at a loss as to how to respond. After another minute, she sent him another message.

**Cassiel: You know, you should watch Hercules, it’s an animated Disney vid**

His brow ridge furrowed, and some of the others in HQ looked over at him in confusion at why he was suddenly so frazzled. He ignored them, instead leaning over his tool and quickly typing in:  _ Hercules Disney _ . A vid immediately popped up, and his eyes widened at the cover image.

Evfra wouldn't even know how to begin to explain how  _ bizarre _ the image was. The animation was simple, and it was full of bright colors. There was a human in the center with  _ extremely _ broad shoulders and he appeared to be… glowing? Next to him was a woman with seemingly gravity defying fur- _ hair _ , he reminded himself. And her waist was so narrow Evfra was… concerned. A very short man was on the other side of the glowing man, and he looked like… a faun! Evfra grimaced, raising his tool once again.

**Evfra: I found it on a database.**

He sent that single sentence before contemplating how to begin letting her down and saying he didn’t think he’d watch it. After a moment, he typed out another couple words and hit  _ send _ .

**Evfra: I don’t think I would understand any of it**

It barely took a minute for Cassiel to respond.

**Cassiel: Then next shore leave on Aya I’ll have to watch it with you and explain it!**

Embarrassingly, when Evfra read the message his field let out a pulse of  _ aranj _ before he could reign it in, and the few people in HQ looked over at him, their fields a mixture of curious and amused. Evfra ignored them with a scowl, though he was only able to keep the facade of the scowl up for a moment before his lips uncontrollably turned up into a smile. She said she wanted to spend time with him! Watching a vid! On Aya! 

**Evfra: I would enjoy that**

* * *

Later, after Evfra had finished up his reports and gone back to his apartment, his tool pinged as he popped the cap off a tube of nutrient paste. He began to eat as he opened the message.

**Jaal: Have you been in contact with Cassiel today?**

Evfra’s eyes widened at the question, and he coughed, barely preventing himself from choking on the nutrient paste. He quickly swallowed before Jaal could send another message to catch him off guard, typing out a curt response.

**Evfra: yes**

It barely took 10 seconds for his tool to ping with Jaal’s message.

**Jaal: So that’s why she was smiling so much today…**

Evfra wanted to ignore the comment, or maybe say something like “I don’t like what you’re implying”, but he shook his head at himself. He  _ did _ like what Jaal was implying, far too much.

**Evfra: She was probably smiling because she likes snow.**

Again, Jaal responded almost eerily quickly.

**Jaal: Did she tell you that she likes snow?**

Evfra rolled his eyes. His right hand was grasping at straws (or so he told himself).

**Evfra: yes**

As had become almost normal when it came to Cassiel, his scowl didn’t stay on his face for long.


	21. XXI: I Love Snow! Remnant Though...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE NO EXCUSES I AM SO SORRY!!  
> I've been having major writers block for this story even though I have the outline I just can't get the chapters written down... but here we are!

Though they didn’t say anything about it, Cassiel could tell that Drack and Vetra were both  _ very  _ grateful that they didn’t even have to wake up until 11, unlike Colin and his ground crew, who were up at the crack of dawn, which was a lot earlier on Voeld than the other planets they had visited so far.

Cassiel had woken up briefly around 4 am to Colin leaving their shared quarters. Mr. Tumnus had grunted, his eyes small slits as he raised his head to watch Colin walk out, before he plopped back down to rest his head on Cassiel’s hip. She had groaned, tugging her blankets further up in a half-awake daze before heading back to the land of unconsciousness.

Around 11, Cassiel made her way to the galley, already dressed for her day of activating monoliths. Mr. Tumnus was still eating his food in her and Colin’s quarters. She grabbed a nutrient bar, nodding to Suvi, who was shoveling some cereal into her mouth while avidly reading through some report on a datapad. The scientist didn’t even look up in acknowledgement, too absorbed in the report.

“Morning, Drack,” Cassiel chirped to the krogan as he came in, and he let out a grunt in greeting, digging through a cabinet for a nutrient bar.

“So we’re going out and activating monoliths?” he asked, and Cassiel nodded. He grunted. “Maybe there’ll be some kett heads to knock together,” there was a lilt of hope in his voice, and Cassiel scoffed playfully.

“Perhaps,” she acquiesced, before holding a finger up. “Though I’m not going out of my way to satisfy your bloodlust, grandpa turtle,” she said, and Drack let out a loud laugh.

“Whatever, tiny,” just then, Vetra came in, seeming very refreshed as she grabbed her own nutrient bar.

“Morning,” the turian greeted, and Cassiel waved at her. Everybody in the galley jumped when the door swished open once more and Mr. Tumnus rushed in, being sure to greet everybody. He rubbed up against Cassiel briefly before going over and sitting right by Vetra’s feet. The turian woman cooed and crouched down to give him affectionate scritches behind his horns, and Suvi perked up as well, setting aside her datapad to give some love to the flanjaak. Mr. Tumnus practically preened at the attention, his tail thumping against the floor happily.

* * *

A little later, after leaving Mr. Tumnus with Lexi, the crew were in the nomad heading towards the first monolith.

“Which way, SAM?” Cassiel asked, and the AI piped up after a moment.

“Head northeast,” he told her, and Cassiel nodded, before turning to Vetra in the passenger’s seat with a questioning look. The turian sighed, chuckling slightly as she pointed in the direction SAM had indicated, and Cassiel nodded again.

“Thanks!” she chirped, before shifting the nomad into gear and speeding across the icy tundra.

“Wow!” Vetra gasped, her hands going to grasp the sides of her seat tightly. Drack laughed.

“If you drive anything like your brother, pipsqueak, we’re gonna have problems,” he was able to say through his laughter at Vetra’s terror. Cassiel gasped in offense.

“How dare you?” she hissed. “Colin can’t drive for shit!  _ I _ was a professional driver!” she rolled her eyes. “Besides, we’re literally in an open snowy field, there are no obstacles to avoid or anything,”

“Kett camp ahead,” SAM intoned, and Cassiel cursed, shooting a glare towards Drack, whose laughter came back with renewed vigor.

“Shut up,” she muttered, allowing the vehicle to drift now that she could see the kett structures ahead of her. “Not you, SAM, Drack,” she said as an afterthought, realizing that the AI may have thought the statement was directed at it. “What do you think, Vetra? Go around or take them on?” she asked, and Vetra chuckled, preparing her shotgun at her side.

“Is that a question?” she scoffed. “Let’s go kill some kett!” Cassiel chuckled, swinging the nomad so it skidded to a stop right in front of the camp, with Vetra’s door facing towards them. The kett all started shouting as the trio slammed open their doors and started firing. Cassiel stayed a little further back, shooting any stragglers she noticed as Vetra and Drack did the heavy lifting. The krogan was having a grand old time, swinging his hammer at any kett he could get within reach of, and Vetra was just chuckling slightly at his enthusiasm as she lobbed a grenade towards a couple huddled together near a heater. They didn’t even have time to scramble away before it detonated, sending sticky green blood flying in all directions. Cassiel was glad to be  _ far _ away from the blast site.

* * *

Only 20 minutes later they arrived at the first monolith of the day, which went easily enough. Vetra was a little miffed at having to stand in the cold while Cassiel went around searching for the glyphs she needed, but once Cassiel had found them and activated the monolith, Vetra was no longer complaining. Some remnant had powered up, seemingly coming from nowhere and attacking the trio.

Vetra, at least, was happy to now have adrenaline, or the turian equivalent, pumping through her veins to keep her warm as she shot at the hovering observer, which sparked as a shot hit its eye, causing it to start to fall down. Drack crushed it with his hammer as soon as it was low enough, and Cassiel was able to use her omniblade to destroy a breacher that had gone in to restrain her.

“You good Cassiel?” Vetra called from behind cover as another observer started its laser up. 

“All good! You?” Cassiel called back, behind her own cover a couple meters away.

“Peachy!”

“Drack?” she only got joyous laughter in response, so she assumed he was fine.

* * *

At the next monolith, after activating it and killing the remnant, Cassiel’s comm beeped with an incoming call from Kallo.

“Cassiel, there’s a kett shuttle inbound to your location, is everything alright?” Cassiel’s eyes widened, and she gestured for everyone to get in the nomad. She flung herself into the driver’s seat as she responded, not even waiting for Drack to finish closing his door before flooring it.

“Everything’s fine Kallo!” she shouted over the roar of the engine. “Don’t tell Colin byeee!” and with that she ended the call.

“Cassiel-” Vetra began, fear in her voice as Cassiel was going straight towards a sheer cliff.

“Uh huh,” was all the girl said in response.

“Cassiel!” Vetra tried again, and Cassiel just rolled her shoulders, eyes narrowing in concentration.

“CASSIEL!” at this Cassiel began laughing gleefully. The wheels left the ground, the nomad flying over the cliff as Vetra and Drack screamed and Cassiel continued to laugh.

“About 10 meters from the ground, Cassiel engaged the jump thrusters, causing their landing to just feel like they had gone over a rather rough bump. Cassiel was still laughing as Vetra and Drack tried to regain their breath and a normal heartrate.

“Cassiel?” it was Kallo again. “You just dropped 100 meters in altitude, are you alright?” Cassiel was still giggling, unable to respond, so Vetra responded for her.

“She just drove us off a fucking cliff,” she grunted, still winded, and scrambling was heard from the other end.

“Are you okay?!” Kallo asked, voice slightly panicked. Vetra hummed an affirmation.

“We landed fine, she used the jump boost, I don’t even think the Nomad was damaged,” they heard a sigh of relief.

“Okay,” Cassiel was finally able to reign in her giggles, taking a deep breath as she hit the accelerator again, sending them forward towards the final monolith.

“You got quads, kid,” Drack said, and Cassiel grinned.

“Of course I do!” 

“I don’t mean to nag, but the kett still have your location,” Kallo said, and Cassiel’s eyes narrowed.

“I can lose them,” she said, certainty in her voice. “SAM, could you please scan nearby topography for the lowest elevation that’s easiest to get to?” she asked, and there was a moment of silence before SAM piped up.

“Lowest elevation that the nomad can access is 2 kilometers away,” SAM told her, and Cassiel beamed.

“Thank you!” she chirped. “Which way?”

“Turn 30 degrees counterclockwise,” SAM instructed, and Cassiel did so. “Straight ahead,” she nodded, pushing her foot all the way down on the pedal and switching the nomad from all terrain to smooth terrain, causing them to glide across the snow much faster than they could have otherwise.

“What’s the plan?” Vetra asked, and Cassiel glanced at the turian out of the corner of her eye.

“The snow and low elevation will throw off our heat signatures, making us look more like the animals native to Voeld than a couple sentients in a vehicle,” she explained, and heard a noise of surprise from Drack.

“Damn,” he muttered. “Never would’ve pegged you fo r someone with the know how for evading enemies,” Cassiel chuckled slightly, though the sound was a little strained.

“I plan to keep on surprising you, Grandpa,” she shot over her shoulder, finally seeing a dip in the snow leading towards a valley. “It’s a good thing the nomad’s white, otherwise this wouldn’t work,” she muttered to herself, bringing the nomad down into the valley. As soon as they were at the lowest point in the valley, Cassiel threw the nomad into park and turned to Vetra.

“Could you move your arm?” she asked, and Vetra made a noise of confusion, but did so without much fuss. Lifting up the central panel, Cassiel grabbed her sniper, assembling it so quickly that Vetra and Drack barely knew what was happening. They exchanged confused looks as Cassiel opened the sunroof, pointing her rifle at an ice formation about halfway up the cliff face. Firing, the ice broke away, allowing snow to cascade down into the valley, not quite avalanche level, and it settled to a stop slightly before where Cassiel had parked the nomad. She closed the sunroof once more, shifting the nomad into gear to bring it the couple of meters forward so that the grill was pressed right up against the snowbank. She then turned the nomad off and turned to her companions, who were giving her bewildered stares.

“Since when do you snipe?” Drack asked, and Cassiel shrugged, not looking at either of them.

* * *

_ She hadn’t had food in at least 3 days at the point. Luckily there was still some water left in her canteen. She had given up on being clean, instead rubbing the reddish clay over her clothes so she could blend in with the desert landscape. Far below where Cassiel was laying down on her belly, a raider camp was set up. Seven people, three were human, four were turian. Cassiel squeezed her eyes shut, taking in a deep breath, before adjusting herself and looking through the scope once more. Breathe in, breathe out- _

**_BANG!_ **

* * *

“It’s a… long story,” Cassiel finally said, before wincing. “Don’t tell Colin!” Vetra and Drack exchanged looks, before Drack was chuckling.

“What _ can _ we tell Colin?” he asked jokingly, and Cassiel’s lips quirked up in a small smile.

“Preferably nothing,” she giggled, and Drack laughed. Vetra gave a weak chuckle, though her shivering was taking up most of her energy.

“The shuttle has turned around,” Kallo’s voice piped up through their comms, and Cassiel jumped. “It looks like you’ve lost them, you can keep going now,” Cassiel breathed out a sigh of relief, turning the nomad back on.

“Thanks Kal,” she said as Vetra hummed happily at the heat flooding the vents. “You know the drill, don’t tell my brother,” they heard the salarian ‘hmph’ through the comms before a low tone was heard, signaling he disconnected.

* * *

A little over an hour later, Drack, Vetra, and Cassiel were at Resistance HQ to restock on ammo and rest for a bit before heading to the vault. They had activated the third monolith without much fuss, and Cassiel sighed happily as she slumped near a heat lamp. She lifted her arm, plugging a couple commands into her tool before her own face popped up, signaling she was videocalling Lexi.

The doctor answered after only a moment, worry in their voice.

“Cassiel, are you alright?” they asked, and Cassiel nodded with a smile.

“Yeah, we’re gonna go to the vault in an hour or so,” she informed the asari. “I just wanted to check in,” Lexi nodded, relief clear on her face.

“Oh, you’re not hurt?” Cassiel shook her head, before perking up slightly.

“Where’s Mr. Tumnus?” she asked, and Lexi smirked slightly, flipping the camera so Cassiel could see her flanjaak, whose tail was thumping against the floor at the sound of her voice. He was sat directly in front of Lexi, the toy Aarvos had given him resting in front of his legs. “Hi baby!” Cassiel cooed. “I’ll be back soon! Then we can go play in the snow!” as if he understood her, Mr. Tumnus’ tail thwacked against the floor at an even quicker tempo.

“See you soon, Cassiel,” Lexi chirped, before ending the call, and Cassiel smiled.

After a moment, she opened up her messages, shooting a quick one to Evfra.

**Cassiel: If all goes well, Voeld’s vault should be up and running by the end of they day**

She thought for a moment, before typing out a followup message, grimacing awkwardly.

**Cassiel: Or Voeld’s day, I’m not sure what time it currently is on Aya…**

She didn’t even have to wait a full minute before her tool beeped with Evfra’s reply.

**Evfra: It is currently morning on Aya**

**Evfra: Good luck, may stars and skies guide your path**

**Cassiel: Thank you**

**Author's Note:**

> I took some liberties with Shelesh, and basically made my own new language, while using some of the canon words... So yeah, that's gonna be a thing. No Evfra yet, sorry! But next chapter!


End file.
